Uncle Callen
by Ambrosia Rush
Summary: Inspired by the car conversation in the episode "Higher Power" a look into Callen's interactions with Sam's children.
1. Zachary

**Inspired by the NCIS: LA episode Higher Power (3x11) mostly the conversation in the car:**

_*Talking about the pony toy*_

_Sam: "That's what I'm talking about, I have a bad feeling I'm not going to find one." _

_Callen: "Yeah, maybe Santa Clause will bring it to her." _

_Sam: "Maybe I'll tell her Uncle Callen said he'd get it for her. It's okay baby girl, Uncle Callen didn't mean to let you down." _

_Deeks: "That's messed up!" _

_Callen: *looking horrified* "You wouldn't."_

_Kensi: "You shouldn't." _

_Sam: "Ho-ho-ho." _

**I just got the feeling that Callen enjoys being a part of Sam's children's lives, the way he looks completely horrified by potentially being Sam's Christmas Scapegoat. **

**I also wanted to show how much a part of Sam's life Callen actually is and how much about Sam's home life he knows but I couldn't work all this into Blood and Bone. So it can be read as part of the series- but it stands alone just fine. **

::

Callen paused outside of the door, he'd never done something like this before and was far more nervous than he had expected to be. He looked down at the gift bags in hand and wondered if what he chose was appropriate. Then again, he'd asked the woman at the store, and she seemed to know what she was talking about. He knocked before he lost the nerve, but as he waited the internal debate continued.

"Gregory!"

He looked up and put a smile on his face. "Michelle," he greeted warmly and reciprocated her hug with his free arm, they pulled away and he grinned at her, "you look fantastic."

She smiled, "you're a charmer," she stepped back and held the door for him, "come on in."

He did and kicked off his shoes, "so...?" He could hardly contain himself, he was excited and a little scared at the same time.

She gave him a warm smile. "Come on, I'll show you," she lead him through the house. He'd been at a many times, but this time was special, this time it was _different_. She opened the door, and he knew which room it was- he should- he spent _weeks_ helping paint and put together the furniture inside.

The nursery had really come together, not knowing the gender of the child they'd gone with a light green. The crib was a light oak with a shine finish, the blankets were also green, there was a changing station made from the same oak. A large giraffe decal was stuck to the wall, they'd been determined to get it up right after the first three had ripped. There was a rocker in the corner that just finished off the room perfectly.

Michelle had worried so much about what colour, what furniture, what decor they would put in the room, her husband had wanted to make it a surprise, and a surprise it was- it was absolutely perfect.

Callen smiled as he walked in, there was something strange and yet natural seeing his partner Sam Hanna standing in the middle of the room gazing lovingly at his first born child. "Congratulation Sam!" Callen had been on an assignment and this was the first time he'd seen Sam with a baby.

"Thanks man, glad you're back G."

As far as Michelle knew Sam had quit SEALS and become a legitimate business man- instead he had joined NCIS Office of Special Projects. As far as she knew Gregory Callen was a co-worker, now friend- who worked in the same office. It was easier giving her an actual name to call him than explain that his name was just 'G' and keeping with a 'g' name Sam would never have to remember to call him it. It worked well for the both of them.

"Glad to be back," and since Michelle was still in the room he added, "be glad you missed those board meetings, Chicago," he said the city name with great distain, "rained the entire time. Miserable."

Michelle smiled, "I'll leave you to your own devices, I'll call you when supper is ready, you're staying right Greg?"

Callen grinned, "if you're inviting me."

"I'll set an extra plate," and she closed the door behind her.

"How did it go?" Sam wanted to know, he'd been worried about his partner.

"Fine, Kensi did have to put some makeup on me before sending me over though, if I came over with a shinner Michelle would ask questions. Now enough about work, boy or girl?"

Sam smiled and there was pride in his eyes, "a boy."

Callen stepped closer and kept his hands behind his back like a child in a store of glass. "Cute, got more hair than you already."

Sam laughed, another time, another place he might have launched a line back but he had his newborn son in his hands and he couldn't find it in him to be agitated with his partner. "You want to hold him?"

"Oh God no," Callen took two quick steps back. "I mean... no, I'm good."

Sam laughed, "it's just a baby! Come here."

"Sam," Callen said the name like a warning.

"Come here, G, you have to hold him." Reluctantly Callen came forward. "Okay put your arms like mine," Sam instructed and Callen mirrored his partner's pose. Sam carefully placed the baby in Callen's arms. "You just got to be careful with his neck, not strong enough yet to hold his own head up."

Callen looked down to the newborn in his arms, it was odd, the child wasn't his but he found his heart swell just at the sight of the little boy who was looking around with unfocussed dark brown eyes. He studied the baby, who after much deliberation, Callen decided the new bundle took after his parents equally. Sam's eyes and strong bone structure was present, but the lips and slightly upturned nose were traits of Michelle.

"You know you can move, and breathe right G, you won't break him."

Callen took careful steps and found a security in holding the baby more like... well an infant than before when he'd held the bundle like a bomb. "So what did you name him?" Callen asked after a moment, growing up with only a letter made names of little importance, but he figured that he should know his partner's son's name.

"Zachary," Sam responded.

"Zachary," Callen repeated in. He held the baby in one arm while pulling the blanket down a little to catch sight of little hands. "Please tell me you won't call him 'Z' for short."

Sam laughed, "I'd call you by a name if you had it." From anyone else it might have stung, but from Sam, Callen didn't mind. "Zack for short."

The baby grabbed on to one of Callen's fingers and he looked down at the baby in awe. He moved the finger slowly but the baby held on, "he'll grow up to be tough, hopefully though he'll keep his hair and take more after his mommy."

"Very funny," Sam responded taking great joy in his best friend discovering the wonders of a baby.

"Oh here," Callen kicked at the bags, "I doubt he'll be opening them. Wasn't sure what was appropriate so I kept the receipts."

Sam bent down and opened the oversized yellow bag first finding a olive green, very urban looking baby bag that lacked the look of an actual baby bag.

"There was a guy walking in down Venice with his kid and this baby blue baby bag... never seen a man look more emasculated in my life. Had to make sure that wasn't you." Callen explained.

Sam laughed, "thanks man, Mitch has these awful cotton ones with bunny prints." Sam shook his head while opening the second bag to find a soft beige bunny rabbit and a white blanket with a rubber duck motif. Sam smiled, "they're great G, thanks, he's going to love them." Sam stood back up and studied his partner who was still looking a little awestruck by Zachary. "So, G, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah, sure, what?" Callen responded not really paying attention. He was studying the little wrinkles on the finger joints.

"Mitch and I were wondering..." Sam smiling as Zachary burped causing Callen to jump. "We were wondering if you'd be Zack's godfather."

Callen looked up incredulous, "what?"

Sam laughed, "Michelle and I want you to be Zachary's godfather."

"Yeah, man," Callen smiled, "I'd be honoured."

There was a quick double knock and Michelle poked her head in. She took one look at Callen and then looked to Sam, "you asked him already."

"Yes, and he said yes," Sam responded.

"Great," Michelle came in and stood by Callen cooing over Zachary. "Well, lets get moving boys, dinner is done."

At this the baby started crying and Callen looked startled, "oh God, someone take him."

Sam laughed and Michelle took Zachary carefully into her arms and started singing as she left the room. "You ever _not_ going to freak out when he cries?"

"Unlikely," Callen responded looking around the room. "So you're a dad. What's it like?"

"Exhilarating," Sam replied, and Callen knew due to their work that when Sam said 'exhilarating' he meant it. "Terrifying," Sam shrugged, "I know what's out there and now I have this little infant..."

"You'll protect him," Callen responded.

"And if something happens to me?" Sam looked meaningfully at Callen. The job held no promises of safety, of life beyond the day.

"I'll protect him," Callen promised.

"And if both of us-'

Callen felt it necessary to cut him off, "don't even go there, you got my back, and I'll make damn sure you come home to this every night." Callen crossed his arms across his chest, "but Hetty would take care of him, you know that. This child has the biggest network of badass aunts and uncles imaginable."

Sam smiled, "thanks G."

"Anytime," Callen opened the door to the nursery and looked back, "you coming? You know I only came over for Mitch's cooking."

"Keep telling yourself that G," Sam argued, "you're under the baby spell too."


	2. Birthday

"I'm getting to old to be thrown out of moving vehicles," Callen complained as he walked through the store with Sam.

"There is never a good age to be thrown out of a moving vehicle, G," Sam stopped and checked the price tag on something but kept moving. "You shouldn't have pissed the guy off."

Callen picked up a stuffed frog and studied it, decidedly it was creepy with it's way too large eyes, he put it back. "I didn't, Scott did."

"You can't blame your bad decisions on an alias," Sam argued.

"Can so," Callen replied, dodging a child who was screaming as she ran through the store, her mother hot on her heels. "I had to stay in character, besides I had no idea he'd take the insult to his mother so badly." Callen rubbed his back, he was going to have to talk to Hetty about seeing a chiropractor if it didn't work itself out soon.

Sam picked up a toy truck shaped pillow. "I think this is it."

"He's one," Callen said with a smirk, "you could have picked up anything and it could be 'it.'" Callen grabbed a koala toy and checked the safety tag- something he would have never thought about before Zachary and having Michelle go on and on about age appropriateness. "Good for kids under three," Callen read, "see, this koala is 'it.'"

The two agents paid for their respective toys and got them gift wrapped.

"We're late," Sam said miserably as they left the store. "I'm late for my son's first birthday."

"Better let me drive then," Callen said.

"Not in this lifetime," Sam responded getting in the drivers side.

::

"Didn't expect so many people for a one year old's party," Callen noted as Sam parked on his lawn.

"Mitch invited everyone who's anyone to Zachary." Sam responded as they walked right into the house.

Michelle rounded the corner quickly and smiled, "Sam," ran to him kissed him happily, Callen looked deliberately at the wall. "I'm glad you're home," Michelle whispered. She turned heel and looked at Callen. "Greg, glad you could make it," she hugged him quickly and stepped back, "come on in, there are plenty of people for you to meet."

"What did you get me into?" Callen asked Sam quietly not expecting an answer.

::

"This is Lea," Michelle introduced Callen to the pretty brunette, "she's Zachary's godmother, and this is Gregory," She pointed to him, "he's Zack's godfather."

"Nice to meet you," Lea held out her hand and Callen shook it. "I've heard a lot about you, brilliant job on the nursery by the way. Michelle was so nervous as to how it would turn out but you and Sam really did a wonderful job on it."

"It was mostly Sam, he just kept me around for heavy lifting," Callen joked easily with her, and he hung close to Lea for the majority of the night, it was easier than meeting and trying to keep up in the conversation with Michelle's family.

"Gregory Callen," Callen froze on the spot for a moment and then placed the voice and relaxed.

"Eloise Hanna," he turned with a big smile, "long time no see."

"You keepin' that son of mine out of trouble?"

"I try," Callen replied.

"Ma," Sam came over, "this place is so packed I couldn't find you in this mess."

Eloise grinned, "well I can't find my gran-baby, everyone is playing hot potato with him."

Sam laughed and waved over Michelle who was bringing Zachary back from a feeding.

"Ellie!" Michelle kissed her mother-in-law on the cheek before handing Zachary over to awaiting arms, "glad you could make it."

"Like I would miss little Zachary's first birthday." The elderly woman cooed over the baby, "nothing more precious in this world than a child." She looked over her glasses at Callen, "you got yourself a woman yet?"

Callen laughed, it was like this every time he bumped into Eloise. "No, not yet."

"There is this pretty girl that moved in just down the street," Eloise started.

"Ma, leave G alone," Sam intercepted.

"You're getting up there Gregory," Eloise said waggling a finger at him, "you got to find yourself a nice girl, settle down, have a couple of these darling things yourself."

Callen almost laughed, "I'm not that old Ellie." He was going to be thirty five that year, but he wasn't _that_ old.

"You're not that young either, but you're lucky, your handsome, it'll work for you."

"Maybe I'm still holding out that you'll leave Paul and run off to Costa Rica with me," it was a long standing joke between the two and Eloise laughed.

"I've been happily married far too long, besides I finally have Paul trained. I'd have to start all over with you."

Callen put his hand over his heart, "I guess I'll just have to find a nice girl."

"Who can cook," Eloise noted, "you're to scrawny, you'll have to come over sometime I'll cook for you, don't want you fading away." Callen liked the mothering he always got from Eloise, she wasn't overbearing, she lightened the worry with jokes, but she cared, and for some reason that really mattered to him. She kissed the top of Zachary's head before passing him off to Callen who held him naturally at this point. "See you look good with a kid."

"You suggesting I use Zack as a wingman?" Callen asked as Zachary made baby sounds and waved his hand hitting Callen in the jaw.

"You need all the help you can get," Eloise joked.

"He's too young to be a wingman," Sam argued.

Callen felt like he was being petted, he'd been undercover and hadn't shaved in a few days and the baby seemed mesmerised by the corse hair on his face the tiny hand rubbing back and forth.

"Well you haven't been helping him," Eloise sent a glare at her son.

"I've been busy Ma," Sam responded, "besides, he's hopeless."

Eloise made a dismissive sound, and noted that Callen was rocking the baby gently with a content look on his face and she decided he was no longer listening. She turned to her son. "Look at that picture, that boy needs family."

Zachary opened his mouth wide for a yawn and slowly closed his eyes falling to sleep in the security of Callen's arms.

Sam smiled, "he's got family, just not the same sense of the word you use."

Eloise returned the smile, "he still needs a nice girl."

"One day Ma, he'll find one."


	3. Babysitter

Callen was fretting and G Callen did _not_ ,under** any** circumstances, fret.

Zachary was in his arms and he was trying to get the small child to stop crying. At eighteen months the baby was considerably longer than when Callen had first held him. He'd babysat before for Sam and Michelle though not often. Eloise typically picked up the babysitting duties, or Michelle's parents, but they were both occupied so Callen had been asked and since it was Sam asking and it was their fifth wedding anniversary how could he say no? So now he was in his little apartment going through his entire baby knowledge- it wasn't much.

He'd changed the diaper despite the fact it was still clean. He'd tried giving Zachary a bottle but the child had refused. He tried burping and rocking and even singing. Nothing was getting Zachary to calm down.

He really didn't want to call Sam, so instead he called Hetty.

"Mr Callen?"

"Hetty," he breathed out a sigh of relief, "I'm babysitting Zachary."

"By the sounds of it, he isn't amused," Hetty noted.

"He's been like this for an hour, I've done everything- twice, do you think I should take him to the doctors?" Callen asked he had a strange panic in his chest. Gunmen, bombs and negotiations- he didn't break a sweat. His godson crying in his arms and the man was a mess.

Hetty rattled off the name of a paediatrician, "he's the very best," she assured. "If you're worried that this is something more than a cranky baby I'll give him a call and tell him to be expecting you."

::

Callen strapped Zachary into the car seat that Sam had hooked up before he'd left. Callen studied the straps with great detail before finally getting everything locked into place. "It's okay Zach," Callen reassured brushing his hand over the soft dark hair on the babies head and noted that he was quite warm. "I'll take care of you."

Callen drove the speed limit and it just about killed him, but he wasn't about to drive recklessly with such precious cargo aboard. Luckily getting Zachary out of the car seat was easier than getting him into it. He walked into the building with a still howling baby on his hip.

"Hi, I'm looking for a Dr Lowe," Callen said to the receptionist.

"You must be Mr. Callen," the receptionist replied, "room three, he's waiting."

Callen walked with quick strides down the hall and opened the door, "Dr Lowe?"

The elderly doctor smiled, "Mr Callen, come on in, this must be Zachary, Hetty faxed me over his medical files just moments ago."

Callen held the fussing Zachary while the doctor looked him over, "ah," Dr Lowe said quietly, "ear infection."

"Ear infection!" Callen was as panicked as the baby was fussy. "Is it bad? Is he going to be okay?"

"Calm down Mr Callen," Dr Lowe smiled, "he'll be just fine, he'll have to take a couple drops of medicine for a few days- it'll help with that little fever too."

"Oh," Callen let out a sigh of relief.

The doctor administered the first round of antibiotics, "put a very mild sedative too, it'll help him sleep through the night, he needs his rest."

"Thanks Doc."

::

_**He isn't breathing!**_Callen was terrified looking over the travelling crib and then seen the little rise and little fall of the chest. He let out a sigh of relief and spent a few more minutes watching over his godson.

There was a knock on the door and Callen walked barefoot across his apartment to answer it.

"Hey Greg, how was he?" Michelle asked coming in with Sam close behind her, "I hope he didn't cause you too much trouble."

"He's sick," Callen responded. "I took him to the doctors."

"What?" Michelle looked at him wide eyed.

"I called a colleague of ours," Callen looked meaningfully at Sam, "she knew the very best paediatrician. Ear infection and a fever." Callen picked up the white bag of antibiotics from the counter, "these are what he prescribed."

Sam picked up his sleeping son who didn't awaken at the movement just yawned a bit in his sleep. "Thanks for looking after him G. You could have called, I know how freaked out you were about the whole babysitting thing to begin with."

"Didn't want to ruin your night," Callen said with a shrug. "Now I'm not babysitting him again till he's like five, when he can talk and tell me his ears are hurting."

Michelle kissed him on the cheek, "thanks Greg."

"Anytime," Callen responded, "after another four years."


	4. PeekABoo

**Short and sweet, thanks for the lovely reviews! Love and Light!**

::

Callen was playing peek-a-boo with Zachary and Sam couldn't think of anything more hilarious. Callen hid his face behind his hands and the toddler who was standing on unsure feet reached out and pulled at Callen's fingers. Callen turned both hands and said, "boo!" Zachary smiled crookedly and started to giggle.

"Never thought I'd see the day," Sam said sitting down on the floor with him.

Zachary put both hands on his father's knees, "Da!"

"Hey Zack," Sam replied pulling his son into his arms. "Can you say G?" He turned Zack and pointed at Callen, "G."

Zachary instead blew a spit bubble and giggled when it burst.

"I swear if he grows up blowing spit bubbles instead of calling me by my name..." he drowned his owns words when he heard Michelle open the front door.

"Sam?" Her tone was worry filled and Callen looked over to his partner who had heard the tone too. Sam passed Zachary over to Callen, stood quickly and took off to the entrance way. "Sam?" He heard her call again.

"Mitch, everything alright?"

Callen picked up Zachary's plastic keys and jingled them, they clacked together and Zachary clapped his hands in delight. Still Callen was listening, he was worried, had something happened?

"How did it go at the doctors?" Sam asked.

"Ninety nine percent," Mitchelle's worried tone was reaching hysteria.

"Hon, I have no idea what you're talking about," Sam said in a calm speech reserved for his child's temper tantrums and hostage negotiations.

"Birth control!" Michelle sounded irate, "birth control is ninety nine percent effective, we weren't planning for this!"

"Mitch..." Sam's tone was starting to sound worried too.

"Sam," she said softly, "I'm pregnant."

Callen dropped the toy keys in shock and looked to Zachary, "looks like you're going to have a brother or sister," he whispered.

"Really?" He heard Sam ask, but it wasn't panic, or fear that Callen would have expected. It was unadulterated joy. "Really? We're having another baby?"

Michelle's laughter told Callen a potential storm had been avoided, "we didn't plan for this Sam."

"Doesn't matter," Sam replied.

The two of them walked into the living room and Michelle blushed, "how much of that conversation did you hear?"

Callen looked at them both glowing with joy, "what conversation?" He lied with a smile and Michelle shot him a disbelieving look. "Congratulations?"

"You better not tell anyone Greg!" Michelle warned, "I want to tell the news myself."

Callen shrugged, "who would I tell?" He stood up and Zachary sat on the floor while he chewed happily on the ear of the stuffed bunny Callen had brought him when he'd first held the child. "I got to get going, see you at work Sam."

"See you later G!" But as Callen got on his shoes he could hear Sam and could envision him picking up Zachary. "Another baby!"

"We're never going to sleep again, are we?" Michelle asked.

"I'm okay with that," Sam replied and Callen shut the door quietly behind him leaving the Hanna's to their happy news.


	5. Pandas and Pigs

Callen was on his seventh tootsie pop for the stakeout and Sam was working on an origami panda to add to the pig, sheep and swan. "I can't believe we are stuck watching this guy," Callen muttered.

"I can't believe how many of these things you eat," Sam replied putting the paper panda on the dash.

Callen picked it up and studied it, "what the hell is this? You said you were making a panda."

"It is," Sam argued.

"Not it isn't," Callen flipped it over in his hand, "it looks just like the pig!"

Sam took it from him and put it back on the dash, "shut up."

They sat in silence a long while, Callen looking through binoculars every once and a while waiting for someone to exit the house, but nothing was happening.

A ringing caught Callen's attention, "that is not your ops phone," Callen noted putting the binoculars down to look at his partner.

"Nope," Sam fished out his personal cell.

"You're not suppose to have that on ops," Callen scolded.

"My wife is eight months pregnant G," Sam rebutted answering, "hey Mitch."

Callen heard the scream from where he was sitting and it made his blood run cold.

"The baby is coming!" She screamed and Sam had to hold the phone away from his ear.

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure?" Michelle sounded incredulous, "I don't know maybe I'm imagining these contractions!"

Sam started up the car, "I'll be right there."

"I'm on the way to the hospital," Michelle said, "Ellie and I were out shopping when my water broke. Please Sam," Michelle screamed again.

The soothing sound of Eloise Hanna's voice came through the speaker, "you better get your ass in gear son."

"Yes ma'am."

::

Callen was on the phone explaining to Hetty why they had abandoned an op. He hung up the phone and had a bad feeling that this was going to be one of those three part ass chewings that had intermissions in between. He paced in the hospital waiting, waiting.

"Why don't you take a walk," Eloise suggested flipping through a magazine, "you're making me dizzy just watching you."

"But what if-"

"That baby is still hours away Gregory," Eloise assured, "go get rid of some of that energy."

He walked down the eight flights of stairs and found the gift shop.

"Do you need help finding anything?" The clerk asked.

"Uh..." Callen smiled, "going to have a new niece of nephew soon."

The clerk smiled, "congratulations. You getting a gift?"

"Yeah," Callen spotted it against the wall and smiled, "could you fill up some of those balloons?" He walked over and grabbed the item from the wall, paid and left.

Eloise was sleeping in her chair when he returned and he didn't think that was such a bad idea. Callen sat in a chair putting the gift next to him and tying the balloons to it. He continued his wait his eyes growing heavy and he drifted off to sleep.

::

Sam was excited as he came down the hall and stopped from screaming at the top of his lungs with elation when he seen both his mother and his partner heads back, sleeping in an uncomfortable looking position in the chairs.

Beside his partner was quite possibly the biggest panda bear stuffed animal he had ever seen, around it's arm was tied a dozen balloons in various colours. Sam smiled and walked over shaking him and his mother.

"Sam?" Eloise whispered rubbing her eyes, "is he or she here yet?"

"Yes," Sam responded, he looked to Callen and pointed, "what the heck is that?"

Callen looked over confused a minute before smiling at Sam, "a panda."

"Looks piggish," Sam joked.

"Quit it you two," Eloise scolded, "I'm too old for this, boy or girl Samuel?"

"Girl," Sam replied, "it's a perfectly healthy baby girl."

"And?" Eloise asked standing up grabbing her purse.

"Zoe," Sam replied.

"Z names," Callen said standing grabbing the panda, "you guys better not have another kid, those might be the only two good 'z' names in existence."

Sam laughed and shook his head.

::

Michelle looked exhausted as she laid in bed looking at the pink bundle in her arms. "Eloise, Gregory," she greeted and turned the bundle to face them, "meet Zoe Elaine Hanna."

"Oh how precious," Eloise took the bundle Michelle held out.

Michelle looked over at Callen and the giant panda with balloons that was tucked under his arm. "Couldn't find anything smaller?" She asked suppressing a yawn.

"Go big or go home," Callen responded as the young woman's eyes beginning to fall.

"Looks a lot like you Sam," Eloise noted.

"You're just saying that because she's bald," Callen shot a glace to his partner who was glaring at him. "What? Zack had more hair than her."

At a knock Sam opened the door, "hey Lea."

"Hey Sam, Hey...oh she's sleeping," Lea toned her voice down to a whisper. She walked in and looked over Eloise's shoulder, "ain't she just the cutest thing."

"She's perfect," Michelle whispered.

"Oh! Hey hon!" Lea walked over to give her best friend a hug. "Well done, cutest damn baby ever."

"I'll tell Zachary you said that," Callen shot her a playful grin.

Lea glared, "don't you dare Gregory!"

Michelle smiled sleepily, "Sam and I want the two of you to be Zoe's godparents too, you two are so great with Zack."

Lea's eyes started watering, "oh, yes! I'd love to."

Sam looked to Callen, "as long as I don't have to babysit her till she's old enough to talk," Callen replied.

Sam rolled his eyes knowing full well what event Callen was referring to, "still traumatized?"

"Uh...yeah," Callen responded.

Eloise handed Callen little baby Zoe and he studied her much in the way he had studied Zachary the first time Callen had held him. Zoe looked much like her brother had as an infant, softer lines though, bigger eyes though they were closed, a smaller nose.

Her lips started pouting and Callen handed her off to Sam knowing _the sign_. The second she was in Sam's arm's she started howling. Callen smiled making his way to the door, "I'll bring the coffee to work."

"I'll need it," Sam replied.


	6. Women

Three year old Zachary was running around the house, the soft bunny that Callen had got him in one hand, it's feet dragging along the ground. "Cool it kiddo," Michelle warned, and caused Zachary to pause, "you'll hurt yourself."

The doorbell rang and Zachary took off again toward the door only to be caught by his father's big arms and swooped off the floor. "Daddy! Doe-bell! Doe-bell! Is it Un-ca G?" The kid was a talker, he had trouble with some words, but for the most part Sam and Michelle knew the language.

Sam checked through the eye hole and let Zachary down, "yes it is."

Zachary dropped the bunny and grabbed the door knob with both hands turning it and pulling hard. He looked up with big brown eyes, "hi Un-ca G!"

"Hey bud," Callen grabbed him under the arms and picked him up coming in and shutting the door behind him. "How are you?"

"Good, Zoe is s-eeping, got to be quiet," he put his finger to his mouth, "shh."

Callen smiled and mimicked, "shh."

"Down," Zachary whispered and Callen let him go. The child picked up his bunny and was back to running through the house.

"I wish I had a tenth of his energy," Sam muttered leading him to the kitchen.

"Hey Greg," Michelle was working on frosting a cake, "how did that deal go in Ohio?"

"Went well," he looked over at Sam, "there is this new firecracker at work, she nailed the deal. She's good."

Michelle grinned at him, "maybe you should ask this firecracker out."

Callen glared at Michelle, "you're getting to be as bad as Eloise."

"I just want you to find a nice girl," both Sam and Michelle said at the same time mimicking the same line Eloise gave to him every time Callen seen her.

"Ha ha," Callen replied dryly.

Sam and Callen ended up on the back patio with ice cold beers in hand. "So- this firecracker."

"Kensi," Callen replied, "Kensi Blye."

"Assigned to our team?"

"Yep," Callen took a swig of the beer.

"Young?"

"Her name is Kensi, how many older agents have names like that?"

Sam sighed, "I was hoping for an agent with a little less... work to be done on."

"I said she's good," Callen vouched. "I think you'll like her, she's got... swagger."

Sam glared at him but Zachary came out before he said anything. "Un-ca G?"

"Yeah Zack?"

"Push me on the swing!"

Callen put down the beer and he and Sam both went to the swing set that Zachary took perch on. "Higher!" He kept crying out.

"SAM!" Michelle shouted from the back door, "can you watch dinner, Zoe's crying."

"Yeah," Sam left his son in the care of Callen.

"Un-ca G, higher!"

"You go any higher and you'll be stuck in a tree," Callen responded lightly, "besides dinners going to be done soon." Callen stopped pushing much to the child's dismay. "We have to get washed up or your mom won't let us eat."

Zachary jumped off the swing once it had mostly stopped moving, "Un-ca G?" Callen hummed in response, Zachary was apparently at an age where he was curious about everything- or so Sam had warned- and was constantly asking questions. "You like swinging?"

Callen looked back to the swings and thought back to his childhood, he'd never really been taken to parks, and at school the older kids would always get the swings first. Callen gave a non-comitted shrug, "they're okay."

"They're like flying," Zachary said. "I want to fly one day."

"So you want to be a pilot?"

"What's a pi-o-let?"

"Someone who flies planes or helicopter," Callen answered opening the sliding door leading back into the dining room.

"I have a toy helicopter! Wanna see it?"

"After dinner," Callen shifted, "we have to get washed up from playing."

"Okay," Zachary got to the bathroom and stood on the stool so he could reach under the water that Callen turned on.

Sam came in with Zoe, "Mitch took one sniff," he said setting his daughter down on the change table, "and sent her off with me."

"Women," Callen replied with a grin.

"Women," Zachary said with a shake of his head that had both men in fits of hysterics.

"Don't say that around your mother," Callen whispered conspiritorially.

"Say what?" Michelle asked, from the door way, but at that moment Sam had opened Zoe's diaper.

"Dear God," Callen cried out plugging his nose, Zachary doing the same. "She's so tiny... how can she do that?"

"Women!" Zachary cried out and shook his head.


	7. Snakes and Ladders

With Michelle visiting her mother for the weekend Sam had practically begged Callen to come over for the weekend under the guise of football and nachos- reality was football, nachos, and two small children- which happened to be a completely different thing.

Callen agreed- mostly because he was currently between places and as wonderful as the ops couch was he was aware of how strange it was to sleep where he worked. He didn't even bother to knock, just came in, kicked off his shoes and threw down his bed roll and bag of clothing. Zachary had his rabbit in a choke hold as he came down the hallway, "Un-ca G! Dad said you was coming! He's making na-shos!"

Callen ruffled the boys dark curls affectionally, "is that so? Where is Zoe?"

"With Dad," Zachary said taking Callen's hand and leading him, "come on, come on!"

Zoe was in her little swing and looked peaceful. Zachary went over and started making faces at her which she took too with great delight, waving her little hands and giggling.

"Hey Sam," Callen greeted.

"Hey G," Sam returned frying the ground beef for the nachos, the microwave went off and Sam reached out for it opening it and taking out the bottle inside at the same time Zoe started to cry.

"Dad, Zoe is sad!" Zachary pointed to his still swinging little sister.

"She's hungry," Sam corrected as the beef started to sizzle, "beef or bottle?" Sam asked.

Couple of years ago Callen would have laughed at the option and took control of the nachos. Instead he took the bottle and turned off the swing- which had taken him an hour to figure out last time he babysat her. He unstrapped her and picked her up carefully, "hey Zoe," he all but cooed.

Sam might have laughed before, but seeing his partner with his kids, he understood how important this family was to him, it brought him joy.

Zoe quickly calmed with the bottle grasping it with her little fingers, but Callen still kept a careful hold.

"Mom wants to know if you found a nice girl yet," Sam said with humour. Eloise Hanna had a soft spot for Callen and was always trying to set him up on blind dates.

"A few," Callen replied leaning against the counter top. Callen for all his faults had no trouble finding women- if he had an itch for human contact he'd have a one night stand and be done with it. Finding a woman wasn't the problem- relationships were. How could you have a relationship with someone when they don't know who you are? Hell, how do you have a relationship when you don't know who you are?

"I'll tell her no," Sam said with a smile, "because you know that is not what Ma means."

Zoe was pushing away the bottle and he put it on the counter grabbing a towel and throwing it over his shoulder because he had a few shirts that had already ended up in the garbage from puke stains. He tapped her back lightly as Sam added the beef to the chips and sprinkled over grated cheese. Zoe burped and Callen waited a few moments but it seemed she was done and falling asleep on him.

Sam threw the chips in the oven and headed to the living room, "nearly game time," he found the channel and the two men sat down. Zachary climbing up on his dad's lap- rabbit still in hand and Zoe slept soundly against Callen's chest.

Zachary was a whirlwind of questions about the game, which he eventually found to be boring and went to his room coming back with Snakes and Ladders. "Lets play a better game!"

"Fine," Sam muttered as the timer beeped, "after I get the nachos."

"I'll go put Zoe to bed," Callen stood carefully as not to jostle his goddaughter and carried her to the nursery- it had gotten a fresh coat of paint, still green since the gender had been a surprise. It looked nearly the same as it had when Zachary was born, her crib had a pink blanket, and the oversized panda sat in the corner by the rocking chair. He set her down carefully and spent a moment gazing down at her. He wondered more than once in recent years how Sam did it- the job- the family- how he balanced them- how he managed the web of lies they'd constructed over the years. Her little hands balled into fists as she fought in her dreams, "you're going to be just like your daddy, aren't you?" He smiled down at the still bald girl- Zachary had more hair when he'd been born, six months and she was only just starting to show signs of growing hair.

"Un-ca G!" Zachary whispered loudly from the doorway, "come on! You have to roll the dices to see who goes first."

"Dice, I have to roll the dice," Callen corrected as he shut the door to the nursery taking the talkie with him.

The nachos were on a plate with salsa on the side, the game was set up, "you're the yellow one."

"Why am I yellow?" Callen wanted to know.

"Daddy wanted red and I wanted blue and I lost the green one," Zachary explained grabbing a nacho and sticking it in his mouth before either man could warn him. Zachary spat it back into his hand and put it on the table, "hot!"

"They just came out of the oven!" Sam said shaking his head and grabbing the discarded nacho with a napkin, "you have to be careful!"

This time Zachary took one and blew on it a few times before taking a tiny bite off the end he considered for a moment before taking a bigger bite. "Yum," he decided finally, "Dad, can I have juice?"

"Yeah, just one..." both of the older men's eyes were glued to the screen, "TOUCHDOWN!"

Zachary turned around and looked at the screen before looking back to Sam who was excited and Callen who was rubbing his hands over his eyes, "they just gave it away!"

"Just like you gave away fifty bucks by betting on them."

"The game is still young," Callen argued.

"Roll," Zachary handed the dice over to Callen while Sam went back to the kitchen and came back with juice. After ten minutes Zachary was in the lead, Sam was in close second and Callen had just hit a snake that had brought him all the way back to the beginning much to Zachary's joy. "You hit a snake!"

It was hard not to get into the game when you were being taunted- and beaten- by a four year old. "Roll the dice buddy, you might hit a snake too."

"No way," Zachary replied rolling the dice and picked up his piece counting out loud, "one, two, three, four. It's a ladder! I win!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

At the end of eight games- Zachary had won six and Sam had won two. To make matters worse, Callen's football team had also lost. "Bad luck," Sam said with an open hand and Callen put the money into it.

Zoe's cries broke through the monitor and Callen shot a look at Sam, "diaper duty's on you, good luck," he said with a large grin.

"I'll give you the fifty bucks back," Sam tried.

Callen shook his head, "I know what she's capable of."


	8. Heart Attack

Callen had refused to babysit unless it was an emergency- simply because between Zachary's ear infection and the night Zoe had stopped breathing (she hadn't but he hadn't been able to see the practically microscopic rise and fall of the small child's chest which had thrown him into full Uncle Panic mode) he couldn't handle it.

Terrorists? No problem.

Jumping out of a moving car? No problem.

Defusing a bomb? Okay, minor problems, but thus far still in one piece.

Babysitting two small children, it was enough to make him start hyperventilating.

But Callen didn't even knock as he entered the Hanna residence. "G," Sam was obviously upset and had a distraught Zoe in his arms.

Callen took the small girl from his partner's arms and bounced slightly in place. "Any news?"

Sam swallowed hard, "it was a heart attack, I..."

Callen frowned, he adored Eloise Hanna, Sam's mother and to hear that she had suffered a heart attack was horrifying and his heart was lodged firmly in his throat. "Go," was all Callen said.

Michelle came around the corner with Zachary who was wiping his eyes, "Gregory," she kissed Zachary on the head, "thank you for coming," she kissed his cheek and then Zoe's.

"No where else I'd be," and that was the truth, this was family. "Go get Sam to Ellie."

Upon hearing a sob from her son Michelle turned back and crouched to eye level with the small boy. "Everything is going to be okay, be good for your uncle, okay."

Zachary nodded sadly, "kay Mommy."

With Sam and Michelle out of the house Zachary walked over and hugged Callen's leg. Zoe had calmed in his arms and appeared to have cried herself to sleep, not understanding what was going on but likely still sensed how upset her father was. "Un-ca G," Zachary looked up with elephant tears in his eyes, "G-amma going to be okay?"

"Yeah buddy," Callen adjusted Zoe in his arms and he bent down and picked up the boy with his other arm, the kid was getting big. "Your Grandma is going to be okay," he sat down on the couch and Zachary hoped down and ran to his room and was back quickly with his stuffed rabbit in a bear hug.

Zachary climbed back on the couch beside Callen and leaned his head against Callen's arm as he studied his little sister. "How did you meet G-amma Un-ca G?" Zachary was a curious child, which was why Callen's current residence had plugs in all of the outlets- he'd once caught Zachary trying to shove a toy car in it.

"Well, I had been working with your dad for about a year," Callen started and Zachary looked up at him expectantly. "And the fourth of July was coming up, and Sam had told Eloise about me and she insisted that I come for the party."

"I like the fourth of July, there are fireworks."

Callen smiled, "it's one of my favourite parts too."

Callen remembered meeting Eloise Hanna like it was yesterday. She'd looked him over from head to toe when Sam introduced him, she'd shaken her head and tutted. "Got to get some meat on those bones," she'd said. The easy banter he had with Sam, he also had with Eloise.

"I wan- G-amma back," Zachary's lip started to quiver and tears started falling all over again. Zoe awoke to the cries of her brother and started howling right in Callen's ear. He tried unsuccessfully to comfort the his two god children. Callen couldn't imagine Sam losing his mother, the children losing their grandmother, and he himself couldn't imagine the world with out the brilliance of Eloise Hanna.

There wasn't a handbook for this, there wasn't a protocol to follow when a child was in fear of losing someone they love.

It didn't help that Callen had no experience with being comforted, he literally had no where to draw knowledge from. He rubbed Zoe's back, the near- two year old sitting up with tears rolling down her face. "It's going to be okay," he kept repeating, and for a child who trusts an adult explicitly- it is apparently enough. When Zachary calmed, his head still buried in his rabbit, Zoe too calmed.

"No," Zoe said- which wasn't exactly a surprise, it was the only word she ever said, much to both Sam and Michelle's dismay. First and only word- No.

"Yes," Callen replied, "yes your Grandma is going to be okay."

"No," Zoe shook her head and giggled. Arguing being her favourite (and untimely) game.

"YES!" Zachary yelled at her.

"Zack, she's too little to understand," Callen told him quietly.

The child stared up at him with big brown eyes as if begging Callen to fix it- and that was the worst part, there was absolutely _nothing_ he could do.

His phone rang and he lifted his hips slightly pulling it out of his pocket. A text from Sam.

_She's okay_.

Two words and the weight of the world simply dissolve.

"That was your dad," Callen told Zachary, "your Grandma going to be okay."

He smiled, "you really mean it?"

Callen wondered how often Michelle and Sam lied to Zachary to get the response of 'you really mean it.' Callen shook off the puzzlement, "yeah Zack, I mean it."

"Can we see her?"

"Later, you can see her later."

Thirty minutes later Callen had Zoe on his hip and was holding Zachary's hand walking through the hospital, the boy had cried and his resolve had dissolved.

"G?"

"You should have gotten Lea for this," Callen responded and let go of Zachary's hand and the boy ran to his father who swooped him off his feet. "The kid got all teary eyed, and once he starts, she does," he pointed at the small girl in his arms who was looking around at everything.

Sam shrugged, "Ma was here, you were the one I thought of first."

"I... that wasn't what..."

"I know G," Sam cut him off.

"How is she?"

"Awake, miserable, she's as bad a patient as you are."

Callen smirked as he followed his partner down the hall. Paul, Sam's father was sitting in the chair next to his wife. "Gregory Callen, you trying to use my granddaughter to get women?" Eloise asked weakly.

"Is it working on you?" He asked adjusting Zoe.

"I'm still not going to Costa Rica with you," Eloise laughed.

Callen didn't realize until that moment that there was a crack in his foundation that had threatened to swallow him whole when he learnt she was in the hospital. "Well, as long as you aren't going anywhere else either," he responded quietly.

She motioned him closer and she grabbed his hand when he was in reach, "you're a good boy Gregory, I got to stick around, make sure you find a nice girl." She patted the back of his hand, "now give me my Zoe."

He handed over the small child and leaned against the wall and watched as the Hanna's gathered around Eloise. _Family_, he looked around the room, it wasn't just what he saw, it's what he knew he was a part of.


	9. Zoe's Favorite Word

Sam and Michelle were at it again, it had started with the fact that Sam hadn't brought home a quart of milk and by the time Callen had ushered the children outside it had escalated to screaming about the fact that Sam had been gone for three days and hadn't called.

"Momma's angry," Zachary noted as he made his way to the swings.

Zoe was up on her little feet, "no," at two years old both Michelle and Sam were worried that 'no' was the only word yet to have come out of the little girl's mouth. They had expected at least a 'momma' or a 'dadda' but so far a very confident 'no.' 'No' cheerios, 'no' sleep, 'no' wanting to go to dad, 'no' wanting to go to mom. No was her answer to everything.

She was walking, but on unsure feet and Callen was walking barefoot on the grass behind her, her little hands holding on to his fingers.

"Why is Momma and Daddy fighting Uncle G?" Zachary wanted to know.

Callen wasn't sure how to answer, but found Zachary's pronunciation of words had improved over the past few months. "He forgot milk," Callen replied after a long moment and Zoe leaned back awkwardly as she threw another foot out and then leaned forward to put her weight on the foot.

"That's a silly reason."

Callen heard a glass break inside and he hoped Zachary hadn't. He looked to Sam's son who was swinging merrily. Zoe seemed to have gone as far as she wanted to and let go of Callen's fingers and plopped down on her butt. "No!" She cried cheerfully looking up at him. He brushed a hand over the top of her short curly hair that she was finally beginning to grow as he sat down next to her.

"Yes," Callen said.

"No," she shook her head and giggled.

Zachary walked over and sat with them, "Zack!" he told his sister pointing at himself, "say Zack!"

"No!"

"Zack! Or Tree, or yes," Zachary tried to convince her as he laid on his stomach in the grass his socked feet swinging back and forth.

"No," she replied with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Yes," her brother argued.

"No!' She maneuverer and pushed up getting back to her feet and both Zachary and Callen put their hands out ready to catch her. He smiled at Zachary who was always trying to look after his little sister.

"Uncle G! She's standing all by herself!" Zachary looked amazed as she took a couple of unaided steps toward Callen who opened his arms to her and she walked to him.

One hand rested on his chest and the other hit his nose, "Un-re G!"

"Did you hear that!" Zachary was on his feet in a second looking ecstatic, "say it again Zoe!"

"Un-re G!" She swatted him on the nose again and proceeded to blow a spit bubble of contentment, she sat down on his leg and cooed happily clapping her hands like Zachary was.

"Good job Zoe!"

Callen kissed the top of her head and felt an overwhelming sense of pride, "we won't tell your parents that her first words were my name, okay Zack?"

"Kay Uncle G."

"Un-re G!" Zoe cried out again and clapped her hands and Callen had a feeling his name was the new 'no.'


	10. Cookies

***** NOTE: I completely screwed the time-line on this. Seriously. Chapters 1-9 are all suppose to take place before Legend and then realized that I have Zachary and Zoe at roughly the same age in the chapter 9 as they are in Blood and Bone. They should be three years older in Blood and Bone than I portray them to line up with this story. See what I mean, massive screw up!**

**Fixing the mess, is this chapter which moves the events of Legend between chapters 6-7 (since cp 6 is where I mentioned Kensi coming to work for them) and that **_**almost**_** fixes it. Seriously, I have no idea what I was thinking. Sorry about this. **

::

Callen awoke with the feeling of falling down stairs. He _hated_ that feeling. Just another con the sleep list. He looked around his apartment a little confused for a moment and then he heard a firm knock at the door, he figured knocking was likely what woke him. He grabbed a shirt from the floor and put it on as he shuffled in his track pants though the apartment. He looked through the peep-hole and seen Sam. Taking out the chain and twisting the deadbolt he opened the door. "Sam."

"You look like shit G," Sam noted as he walked in with a bag of groceries.

"I get shot and you become a housewife?" Callen asked leaning heavily against the tiny table that had come with the 'furnished' room. Obviously his landlord used the word 'furnished' as well as Callen. He'd only been out of the hospital for a month and the aching in his chest had yet to leave him.

"You need to get your strength up, you walked ten feet and you look like you're about to pass out." Sam got to work on putting groceries away and then pulled out two containers. "Told Mom that you were in a car accident. She sends cookies and her love."

Callen smiled, "really? Ellie sent cookies?" Callen found the strength to shuffle from the table to the counter and opened the container, "Ellie sent her famous chocolate chip, she loves me, she really loves me."

Sam shook his head but it was the happiest he'd seen Callen since he'd been shot so he let him get away with it. "Zack is asking about you."

"What did you tell him?" Callen asked cautiously as he picked out a cookie and leaned his back against the counter. When he woke up he'd been confused, getting shot five times has that effect. Then he thought of Sam who'd been calling to him and was at his bedside when he'd awoke. And Kensi who's eyes looked a little red-rimmed but he knew enough not to comment. Hetty who smiled and welcomed him back to the living. He thought of Zoe and of Zachary... and it saddened him to know he wouldn't see them for a while. "Car accident?"

"Well that's what I told Mom," Sam replied, "got to be consistent."

"Probably shouldn't come around for a while," Callen said taking a bite and savouring the cookie.

"Probably," Sam replied. Zachary missed his uncle, but the thought of Zachary launching a tackle hug in joy on his injured partner was a thought best not realized. "Small children are dangerous."

"Ha-ha," Callen responded dryly taking another cookie before Sam put the lid on it and put it on top of the fridge, "you know I can't lift my arms right now."

"I do know that, that's why I put them there," Sam replied, "no desert until after dinner."

Callen glared, "do _not_ patronise me."

"There is little you can do about it," Sam replied, "got supplies for burgers, man food."

"Start it up," Callen replied with a yawn, "I've been living off Jello for far too long."

"Please tell me that isn't all you've been eating this past month," Sam watched his partner as he shuffled to the chair at the table.

"Fine I won't tell you," Callen replied, "how is Zoe?"

"Changing the subject, subtle." Sam shook his head, "she's fine, crawling around, she's tiny but can she ever move." He noted the way his partner's eyes were drooping as his head rested in hand. "Why don't you go and sleep, I'll wake you when it's done."

Callen sat there a moment, "'kay." He stood up and started shuffling, and it worried Sam that Callen would agree to sleep so easily. Callen stopped for a second and turned to Sam. "Don't eat all the cookies while I'm gone," and then he continued on his way.


	11. Finding Peace

Dom was dead. It was a fact. He tried not to let it effect him. But...he was gone. Dom was just... just a kid and his life had been snuffed out and they had been _right there_. Callen knew as bad as he was taking it, Sam was taking it ten times worse. Sam had been Dom's training agent, Callen could only imagine the devastation of losing Kensi who he'd trained and worked closely worth as a mentor for years. He shut his eyes tight trying to get rid of the thoughts.

He was nursing a headache and had been sleeping on the couch of the Hanna residence. That was until Zoe came up and pressed her nose against his. "Un-re G?"

"Morning Zoe," he whispered. She reached out and touched his facial hair which reminded him that he needed to shave. He sat up slowly and grabbed her picking her up as he stood and walking barefoot to the kitchen. "You hungry?" he asked her.

"Un-re G," she smiled and rested her head against his shoulder, "Za?"

"He's still in bed," he replied knowing she was talking about her brother.

"Za," she yelled in his ear and he held her at arms length.

"Sorry Callen," Michelle came up and took Zoe who was now in full fit-throwing-mode. "Shh, it's okay Zoe."

"You okay?" She asked him.

"Fine," he replied leaning against the counter.

"Neither you or Sam look fine," she argued but continued bustling around the kitchen preparing breakfast for her youngest child.

They had told her that a man in their firm had died, it was the closest thing they could get to the truth to say to her. "He was young," Callen tightened his jaw trying to keep that awful feeling from clawing it's way up. "And he..." he avoided eye contact with her. "He just... he died."

Zoe had stopped her fit but was now studying her mother and then Callen, she pouted and reached for him, "Un-re G." He looked to his god daughter, took her from Michelle's arm and found comfort from a small child holding her close. By the time her breakfast was made she'd fallen back to sleep in his arms. He held her, thinking about Dom trying to make sense of the overwhelming loss... he wiped a tear he hadn't realized had fallen and then shut it all down. Put the emotions away and kissed the top of Zoe's head before he put her back into her bed.

In the green room that held a little bed, a giant stuffed panda, and a rocking chair he felt a little bit of peace coming back to him.


	12. Beach

Deeks had been working with them for a while, and he'd been shot, and it had everyone on edge. Sam had been refusing to take the children to the park, heck, he wouldn't even let them go into the backyard to play. There was vigilance, and then there was taking things too far. And Sam had taken it too far.

"It's the beach," Callen argued with Sam quietly. "You haven't let them out of the house for a week."

Sam glared at him, and though he'd never admitted it Callen knew the reason was that his partner was shaken up about Deeks's shooting. "It's too hot out," Sam argued, "they'll get burnt."

"So?" Callen asked, "that's what sunblock was created for." He picked up the large department store bag and took out a bottle of SPF 70. "If that doesn't do it, I don't know what will."

"They could drown," Sam argued. Callen pulled out two life vests.

"They don't have swimsui...ts," he shook his head as Callen pulled out swim trunks for Zachary and a one piece that had a little skirt to it for Zoe. Honestly, it was a little adorable. "Got an umbrella and a blanket in there too?" Sam asked playfully.

"Blanket, I figure if you want some shade you shouldn't live in California."

Michelle came down the hall in a dark green bikini and a light green sarong wrapped around her petite waist, her hair was a halo of tight curls around her face, her dark brown eyes narrowed at Sam, "Greg convince you yet?"

"No," Sam replied looking his wife over, "but you just did."

She glared at him but the smile on her face gave her away, she looked to the table and picked up the neon green trunks and the bright pink one-piece, "these are so cute Greg," she kissed him on the cheek.

"Figured you'd be able to spot them for miles too," he said referring to their loud colours.

::

Michelle was sitting in the sand with Zoe on her leg as the waves came up and swallowed their legs. Zachary kept running in and running out trying to beat the crash of the waves.

"I can't loose them," Sam said as the two men sat on the blanket. "I know it's irrational but the house just seemed safe and after Deeks was targeted."

"I know," Callen said, he understood and didn't need the explanation. He too wanted to keep Michelle, Zachary and Zoe safe, they were by the exception of Sam the closest thing to a family he had. Someone had targeted Deeks to get to Kensi... what if someone targeted Michelle to get to Sam? Callen prayed he'd never have to find out.

Sam was hit in the head with a wet sponge ball and Zachary took off running. "Excuse me," he said to his partner picking it back up and chasing after the little boy in neon shorts and Callen knew that it was going to be okay because Sam would keep his family safe... they both would.


	13. Christmas

Christmas was a big deal for the Hanna Family. Though it was difficult now that Sam and Michelle were divorced. They had decided though, for the children it would be best to spend Christmas as a family- no matter how awkward.

And boy was it ever awkward.

"Gregory!" Eloise answered the door and pulled him into a hug. She stepped back and looked at the giant bag he was carrying. "Why you are a regular Kris Kringle aren't you! Get in here, the kids have been asking about you!"

"Sam here?"

"Yes, and so is Mitch," Eloise stood with him as he untied his boots.

"And how is that going?"

Eloise let out a sad sigh. "About as well as can be expected I suppose." He stood back up and adjusted the grip on the bag. "Don't know why they got a divorce, whenever the other isn't looking they're sending these longing looks." Eloise shook her head before staring right at him. "You find yourself a nice girl? Obviously not since you're not spending Christmas with her... or at least not one you're serious about."

"Ellie," Callen let out a sigh. There was the loneliness of the entire year, and then there was holiday loneliness where everyone else seemed to be out holding hands and drinking candy-cane topped hot drinks and smiles of joy and warmth everywhere. Nothing like the holidays to make you fully realize just how painfully alone you are. "No, not with anyone, not seeing someone casually on the side." Thought there was this particular little red head that had just come to work for them that was looking awfully cute... though sadly she was about a decade too young and far to smart to be interested in a scarred middle aged man with no furniture.

"There is a girl who moved in the apartment building across the street, helped me with my groceries the other day, sat with her through tea. She's unattached, going to school, and wants to be an actress."

"It's LA," Callen said dismissively. "Of course she wants to be an actress."

Eloise touched the side of his face and was every bit a mother figure. "I could give you her name and number, but I know you wouldn't call."

"I wouldn't," Callen agreed. "I'm busy with work."

"One day Gregory, you're going to be old and alone in that house of yours."

"And that would be different from now, how?" He arched an eyebrow as he started walking through the house.

"You don't have to be alone Greg." She whispered to him.

'It's better that way' he thought but kept it to himself.

"Uncle G!" Zachary tackled him in a hug. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too!" Callen smiled and sat down on the floor and Zoe peeked her head around the corner and then dashed awkwardly and toppled into his chest. "Hey Zoe, Merry Christmas!"

"Mas!" Zoe agreed unable to get a handle on the full words.

Callen dug through the bag and pulled out a gift for each. Zachary started ripping off wrapping paper when Sam walked in the room. "Merry Christmas G," he said with out much joy.

"You too Sam."

Michelle had walked in from the opposite end of the house and Callen could see just how much being in the same room with her now ex-husband caused her. Callen didn't doubt the love they had for each other, but sometimes... it just wasn't enough. She looked like she wanted to turn tail but since she had been spotted she instead steeled her spine and walked over. "Happy holidays Gregory."

"Thanks, you too Mitch." Sitting on the floor with the children while Michelle and Sam stood looking anywhere but their ex was one of the most awkward experiences ever.

"It's a remote control car!" Zachary practically screamed. "This. Is. So. Cool!"

"What do you say to your uncle Zachary?"

"Thanks Uncle G!" Zachary didn't even look at him as he started to work on the box.

"I doubt your gift is going to illicit such a response," Callen warned the tiny Zoe but he pulled the box from the bag and helped her unwrap it. She stared at the box obviously not amused that it did not magically hold a doll for her to squeeze the life out of. He opened the box and set it on the ground as Eloise walked in and took a seat in a chair.

"Oh, that is lovely," she noted.

Callen opened the wooden box and a ballerina started twirling as the music box chimed. Zoe watched mesmerised as the silver figure pirouetted endlessly to the music. "P-etty," she said softly leaning her head against his chest. "P-etty music."


	14. Chuck E Cheese

"I can't believe you talked me into this." Callen grumbled angrily.

"You ever have kids," Sam replied. "This is what you have to look forward to."

They stood in Chuck E. Cheese, Zoe and Zachary's eyes lit up like it was Christmas, Callen quite frankly was horrified. He'd much rather go into a warehouse and negotiate with arms traffickers.

"Never having kids," Callen decided quickly. A child ran by screaming sloshing chocolate milk all over the place while his mother chased after him.

"Come on, you're going to find a nice girl, and then they want to be engaged, and then married, and then they want kids. It's the progression of things."

Callen bit his tongue, Sam was now divorced and stuck going to places like this by himself with two children who could be quite the handful. Zoe made a break for the ball pit and Zachary ran off to the slide. The noise level was obnoxious. The fast food scent of grease floated through the air and even sitting watching the children play Callen could feel his arteries clogging. Some children were sitting scarfing down food as fast as they could so they could go back to playing. Others were running from one activity to the next. Some were crying. Others laughing. Some were screaming. All of them were giving him the headache of the century.

Zoe was sitting in the ball pit throwing the plastic things up in the air with delight. He looked around for a minute but couldn't spot Zachary. "Where is Zack?" he asked over the noise level.

Sam pointed, they were agents trained in surveillance, if they couldn't keep track of two children they'd be pretty bad at their jobs.

They were talking about the latest Lakers game, when Zoe came up. "I got to pee Dad."

"Come on," he said. "You got Zack?" He asked Callen.

"Yep."

Zachary came over rubbing his arm. "Where is Dad?"

"He took Zoe to the washroom."

"Some girl hit me," Zachary said sitting next to Callen. "I was playing with her and then she hit me."

"Maybe it means she likes you," Callen said.

Zachary looked at him like he was a complete idiot. "Why would she hit me if she liked me Uncle G? That doesn't make sense."

"Women don't make sense," Callen responded with a sigh.

Zachary seemed to be processing the new information when the girl in question came up shyly and held out a Flash action figure. "I got a boy toy in my meal." The little blonde girl said. "You want it?" Zachary eyed her suspiciously before nodding and holding out his hand. She put the red super hero in his hand and kissed him on the cheek before running away.

"You're right Uncle G." Zachary said looking at the Flash like perhaps he knew the answers but was keeping it to himself. He then looked over to where the little blonde girl was climbing up to the slide. "Girls don't make sense."


	15. The Tooth Fairy

Callen was in the Hanna residence since Michelle was working late and Sam was on a task force working some case he didn't know anything about. Zoe already in bed and he sat with Zachary for the last half hour till the young boy's bedtime watching some cartoon with monster-things.

Zachary had a loose front tooth which he kept wiggling with this tongue. The young boy seemed to be on the edge. Part of him thinking the wiggly tooth was cool, the other part was terrified. Sam had jokingly said they'd tie some floss to it and the door, and apparently Zachary had heard such horror stories from a kid at school.

"It's going to fall out," Zachary said sitting on the couch beside Callen. "A kid at school said he bit into an apple and then his tooth came out." He looked over at Callen seriously. "I don't want to bite an apple, I think it would hurt."

Callen couldn't remember losing teeth, it had been a long time ago, and nothing overly traumatic had ever happened. It wasn't like someone had kicked a soccer ball- and bam- no more front teeth.

"Should I just pull it?" Zachary asked taking the tooth in question in his fingers and wiggling it a bit, it ached and he stopped. "Dad says I should."

"What does your mom say?" Callen asked.

"Mom say it'll fall out on it's own," Zachary sighed. "But... if it comes out, she says the tooth fairy will come and leave me money."

Callen smiled, so the kid didn't want to pull the tooth because it would be painful, but in the end he'd get some cash out of it. "What do you want the money for?"

Zachary looked around and then whispered, "Zoe's birthday present." Most kids would say a pack of trading cards, or perhaps some candy or a game. Not Zachary, the kid took after his father, heart of gold. "You think if I pull it I'll get more?"

Callen shrugged, he never got money for a single tooth he'd lost. "Worth a shot," Callen said, he had a twenty in his wallet anyways.

"Think I should tie it to a doorknob?" Zachary asked with big brown eyes looking up nervously.

"No," Callen decided. "Think you can wiggle it out?"

Zachary grabbed it and wiggled it, got scared and shook his head.

Callen could tell it was very loose and close to falling out. "Maybe you should just... pull it."

"You do it."

"You do it," it took Callen an extra second to realize he was arguing with a five year old. "It's your tooth."

Zachary grabbed it took a few breaths and then let go. "No way."

They went back to watching the show, Callen got up grabbed two granola bars and came back handing one to Zachary. "Snack?"

"Sweet!" Zachary ripped it open and bit right in and then froze opening his mouth and spitting out the granola bar his tooth sticking out. "Sweet!" He shouted again.

"Shhh! You'll wake Zoe," Callen really didn't want to read the Paper Bag Princess again. Three times was enough for one night.

"I'm going to bed right now!" He jumped off the chair and ran to his bedroom.

::

Callen waited till the young boy was well and truly asleep before he snuck in and grabbed the tooth under the pillow and slipped under the twenty.

::

"You realize what you've started?" Sam asked the next morning.

Callen rubbed his eyes and sat up on the couch. "What?"

"A twenty?" he whispered angrily. "Why not a one?"

"I only had the twenty," Callen replied. "Tooth fairy didn't have change."

"He's going to expect a twenty every time now."

Callen was quiet for a minute and then smiled. "Remind me not to stay over when he has a loose tooth."


	16. Home

Callen had been overseas as a loan out to a joint task force due to his fluency in Russian and the contacts he still had. He was tired, no, tired was two days ago, now he was exhausted, but he hadn't been able to sleep on the cargo plane he'd been flown back in.

The plane bounced slightly as it landed causing cargo to hit against each other, but since everything was tied down tight nothing went to far. Callen was sick of the noise, sick of the rocky movements and just wanted to go home, roll out his bed and get some sleep. With his luck, his insomnia would rear it's ugly head and what he'd actually end up doing would be taking apart his toaster and putting it back together again.

The back of the plane opened to a bright and sunny day in California. He grabbed his duffle bag and walked out the back as personnel started boarding to take the cargo from the plane.

The tarmac was inviting the heat of the sun and it was uncomfortably hot as he walked across it. He knew he should call Hetty, let her know he was home safe, and knew that by not doing so he was risking the letter opener. In his exhausted state the letter opener didn't frighten him as much as it usually did.

He rubbed his eyes all to aware of the dark circles that had been under them for days and tried to remember where he'd parked his car as he entered the garage. Second floor. Stairs. He groaned and started climbing them, every curse word in his extended vocabulary and in every language he knew was running through his head when he opened the door to the second floor of the garage.

He remembered where he had parked once he seen the layout. He also noticed that his car was not where he had left it. The space was empty. "You've got to be kidding me," he forced himself to move forward, maybe he was wrong, maybe he'd parked his car further down.

He looked at the empty parking space and a smile found it's way onto his face.

'Welkom home' was spelt incorrectly in blue chalk. There were drawings all around, cars, suns, some stick people, a tree, and a few things he couldn't identify. His heart clenched at the sentiment.

"Uncle G!" Zoe tackled into the back of his leg first and he quickly swooped her up holding her close as she giggle. "You're back!"

"I am back," Callen agreed finding his second wind as he set her down, Zachary catching him around the neck while he was crouched. "Hey Zack!"

"Hey Uncle G!" Zachary let him go. "Like the picture?"

"I love it," Callen confirmed and looked behind him to spot Sam leaning against Callen's car.

"You're late."

"Not my fault," Callen replied. Callen used the camera on his phone to quickly snap a picture of the decorated parking space.

Zoe took his hand and started pulling. "You're staying with us? Right? Mommy made dinner. G-amma say's you're too skinny and you're fading away. You can't fade away Uncle G!" The look of her face was rather frightened so he picked her back up.

"I'm not going anywhere, Zoe."

"But you're coming for dinner," she asked with big brown eyes. "Yes?"

"Yes," he responded and she kissed his cheek.

"Lets go home," Zachary said picking up a box of sidewalk chalk.

But Callen had returned to his family, so he figured he already was _home_.

::

**For SilverSentinal21 who is quite awesome and kicks my butt into gear when I don't update this in a while :) **

**Thank you for reading!**


	17. Chicken Pox

"You bring it?" Michelle asked bouncing a crying Zoe on her hip. Callen held up the bag from the pharmacy and Michelle let him in "Sorry about calling you up like this Gregory, but Sam told me he'd be out of the country on business, my parents are on their cruise, Lea's got the flu bug-"

"It's fine Mitch," Callen insisted as he studied Zoe. The little girl was trying to itch her face, but her mother kept grabbing her hand. Chicken pox were all over the little girl, and from the phone call he'd received earlier from Michelle, he knew that Zachary wasn't any better off.

"You've... had chicken pox before, right Greg?"

"Yeah, twice," Callen responded passing Michelle the bag and taking Zoe from her arms. The first time he hadn't had it bad, and had ended up switching foster homes, the next home had brought him into a different school district, and the entire class of grade one students had ended up infected. "Hey Sweetpea, how are you feeling?"

"Yucky," Zoe responded between gulps of sobbing air.

She went to scratch again and Callen grabbed her hand lightly. "Don't itch, it only makes it worse," Callen insisted following Michelle into the kitchen where she emptied the bag.

Zachary looked up from his spelling list. "Hey Uncle G," he greeted lifting his hand to itch and then stopping when he seen the stern look his mother was shooting at him.

"Hey," Callen looked over the boys shoulder at the spelling list. "Remember 'I' before 'E' except after 'C.'" Zachary looked back down at his word list and sighed taking an eraser to the last word.

He walked over to where Michelle was setting up a little chicken pox triage centre and set Zoe down on the counter. She picked up and shook a bottle of Calamine lotion. "This will make you feel better," she told Zoe who was looking at the Calamine lotion as if it were the holy grail.

"Itchy, Momma," Zoe said going to scratch again but Callen caught her hand.

"I know, but this will help," Michelle said soothingly as she coated a cotton ball with the soothing pink lotion and dabbed it on the sores.

Zoe shivered. "It's cold!"

"Mom, I'm done my spelling list," Zachary said turning in his chair and Callen went to check it over, correcting the two words he'd messed up and getting the young boy to spell them again. "You know when Dad's coming back Uncle G?" The boy asked quickly itching a pox before Callen could stop him.

"Should be back by the end of the week," Callen said. _Hopefully_, he thought.

"I miss Dad," Zachary said sadly and then looked angry as he itched again.

Callen reached over and grabbed his arm. "Come on," he said nodding toward the counter where Michelle was slathering Zoe in Calamine lotion the little girl giggling quite happily as Callen lifted Zachary setting him on the counter beside his sister.

"I'm polka-dotted," Zoe said smiling at her brother.

Zachary laughed. "You look silly," he said studying his spotted sister, the light pink a deep contrast to the little girl's mocha skin.

"Yeah," Callen said dabbing some of the lotion onto a cotton ball. "But you're going to look silly too," he dabbed it on some of the spots on Zachary's arm.

"Don't they have it in blue," Zachary asked.

Callen chuckled. "No luck buddy, calamine is pink, you're stuck with it."

After both children were nearly coated in the pink lotion they were coaxed off to bed and Callen went to say good night. "Bedtime story, Uncle G!" Zoe demanded grabbing his hand and looking up at him with her big brown orbs that since the day she'd been born, once she turned them on him, he was doomed.

Callen sighed. "One story," he said. "One read," he insisted knowing that Zoe could have the same story read over, and over again.

"I get to pick!" Zachary said.

"No!" Zoe whined. "I want to pick."

"You always pick the same one!" Zachary said. "And it's boring."

The children went off to the bookshelf bickering on who would get to choose a book. Michelle smiled leaning against the wall. "Thanks for coming Greg," she said. "I really do appreciate it."

"No problem, Mitch."

"How's Sam?" She asked her eyes not meeting his and Callen smiled just a bit.

"He's alright... he misses you, the kids," Callen admitted quietly and finally Michelle's eyes locked on his. Further conversation between the two was disrupted when Zachary came back with an issue of The Amazing Spiderman. "Spiderman huh?"

"Yeah, he can shoot webs!" Zachary said excitedly. "Come on!"

Callen followed, sure it was longer, but at least it wasn't the Paperbag Princess.


	18. Training Wheels

"This is going to be so cool!" Zachary insisted excitedly as he jumped up and down, his helmet on his head and it was strapped into place.

Callen smiled as he handed Sam a wrench. "Hold the bike G," Sam said and Callen grabbed the seat in one hand, the handle bar in the other holding it in place as Sam took off the first of the training wheels.

Zoe poked her head out the door and then came down the stairs in her sock feet to the grass where the men were working on the bike. "Can I take off my training wheels?" she asked.

"You're too little," Zachary said.

"Am not," Zoe responded.

"Are too!" Zachary said putting his hands on his hips.

Zoe's lips pursed in annoyance and Callen tried not to laugh, her expression was nearly identical to one of Michelle's and it seemed silly on such a little face. "Am not," she said quietly.

"Are too!" Zachary threw his hands in the air with exasperation. "Women!"

Callen laughed and Sam shook his head. "That is your fault," Sam said pointing the wrench at Callen. "And I'm the one to pay the price." The second of the training wheels off and tossed aside Sam got to his feet and dusted bits of grass off. "Ready?"

"So ready," Zachary responded getting on the bike and Sam held it steady.

Callen sat on the steps and Zoe came over to sit beside him. They watched as Sam ran with the bike before letting it go, Zachary kept the bike upright for a few seconds and then it wavered to the right and the boy fell into the grass.

"I changed my mind," Zoe said looking up at Callen with such wise eyes on such a small girl. "I don't want my training wheels off yet."

He smiled and shook his head.

Again Zachary got onto his bike sporting a few new grass stains, Sam again ran with the bike for a few seconds before letting it go. Zachary kept it upright a little longer this time but still fell over to the right once more. Sam waved him over and Callen stood, ruffling Zoe's hair a bit and she scrunched her face and immediately started re-adjusting it. She was so like her mother it was frightening.

Callen crossed the lawn and took one side of the bike, while Sam held the other. "Ready?" Callen asked Zachary.

"Yeah, I'm going to do it this time."

"Are you sure?" Callen asked. "We could put the training wheels back on."

"No!" Zachary responded looking offended. "I can do this!"

"I know, Bud," Callen responded giving a gentle rap on the helmet. He looked to Sam and nodded.

"Go!" Sam said and Zachary's legs got moving, the two men running beside him and letting go of the handle bars and then the seat and stood side by side as Zachary kept going. "I think he's got it," Sam said with a proud father smile.

"I'm doing it!" Zachary said excitedly as he started biking all over the lawn.

"Good thing you have such a lush lawn," Callen said with a smile. "Good for falling on."

"You'll find out just how much pretty soon if you keep it up," Sam said with a shake of his head.


	19. Dress Shopping

Callen let out an aggravated sigh. This should not be happening. Under any circumstance. He couldn't even figure out how he had gotten roped into this! Beers. Sam had said he'd buy beers the next time they went out. It wasn't worth it.

::

Callen was to pick Zoe after school, her brother Zachary going to the fields to play soccer with friends, his mother would be watching the game. What was suppose to happen was Sam was suppose to pick up Zoe and go with her to get a dress for a wedding. First off, that should have been a Michelle job in Callen's mind, not that it was sexist, it was just who would let Sam pick out a dress for the little girl? Worse, why would Sam let Callen? Second of all, it was for a wedding on for Sam's cousin, which was why it fell under the Sam jurisdiction. Again. Why was Callen the one getting stuck? Oh yeah, because Sam had got himself sent undercover to the Sudan. Callen himself would have taken it on, but he stuck out like a sore thumb in the Sudan, that and he couldn't speak any of the languages required. Frankly, he'd rather have risked it.

He stood leaning against the hood of his white Mercedes, fresh back from the garage. Sierra had to replace the two front windows after he and Kensi had taken cover behind them during a gunfight. She gave him a hard time about the wear on his tires, the fact that he hadn't been in for an oil change, so he was already not having the best of days.

There were mostly mother's outside waiting for their children, a few fathers, large school busses idled as they waited for the dismissal bell.

"I haven't seen you around before," a petite blonde standing outside of the car beside him said. She eyed him wearily, as if perhaps he were some kind of child-snatcher.

He suppressed a groan. Instead he flashed a smile. "First time with the pick up duty."

"Which kid is yours?" she asked leaning against the hood of her car looking over at him.

"None, well, Zoe, I'm her-"

"Uncle G!" Zoe ran out in her little school uniform, the skirt grazing against her knees, the white shirt buttoned and appeared to have some blue watercolour paint on the front. "Uncle G!" She tackled his leg. "I was so excited," she said looking up at him pushing back some of her wild curls that she'd inherited from her mother. "Daddy said you'd be coming to pick me up, and that we'd get a dress for Auntie May's wedding." She skipped around in a circle. "Can we get ice cream too?"

Callen laughed. "How about we get dinner, and then we'll discuss ice cream."

"Okay, can I get fries?" She asked looking up at him.

He shrugged. "Sure," he decided. Nutrition was not an Uncle's place. The kid wanted fries, she could have fries.

"Hi Zoe," the woman said.

"Hi Mrs Patrick!" Zoe waved and grabbed Callen's hand with her free one. "This is my Uncle G."

The woman flashed a smile. "Pleasure to meet you... what does the G stand for?"

_I wish I knew_, he thought bitterly. Outwardly he smiled, "Gregory."

"Dress shopping!" Zoe said gave his hand a tug. "Come on!"

Callen gave a polite wave to Mrs Patrick and then got to work getting Zoe into her booster seat.

::

Sam had sent him the address to a few shops in the area that specialized in children's clothing for special events. He parked as close as he could to the first one on the list and got out of the car, going around to the back and unbuckling Zoe.

"Daddy says I have to wear pink," Zoe said taking his hand as they walked down the sidewalk at Zoe pace. She looked at the storefront displays as they did and he was careful to make sure she didn't walk into the people walking around them. "It's the colour for the girls in the wedding."

"Pink, huh," he said. "I'm sure we'll find something." G Callen had never been dress shopping, much less with a small child. He didn't realize how foolish that statement actually was.

He opened the door for her and they walked in. They passed by the baptism outfits, the boys racks of suits.

"Hi there," A tall saleswoman came up to them, she was wearing a cream coloured suit, nude kitten heels, her short dark blonde hair was cut in a short bob. "I'm Nancy, can I be of any assistance?"

"Plenty, I'm sure," Callen said looking at the wall of girls dresses in all styles, sizes, colours and materials. Suddenly he was starting to realize just what he had gotten himself into.

"This is my Uncle G!" Zoe said. Her Uncle G never came around with girlfriends. Daddy had Mommy... sometimes. It was confusing. The lady looked nice.

Nancy smiled. "We'll I'm pleased to meet him, what's your name."

"I'm Zoe," she replied studying the woman and then her Uncle G with her wide brown eyes. "I need a pink dress, my Auntie May is getting married."

"Oh that is wonderful," Nancy replied. "We have plenty of pink dresses. Lets go take a look!"

This one had tool, and that one had silk, and this one was dark pink, and this one was light pink, and this one had glitter, and that one had sparkle (and he wasn't sure what the difference was, but apparently even at age five, Zoe understood.) He pulled the dress up over her head and pulled then next one down and gave it a zip up.

"Too big," she complained as she kept trying to pull up the sleeves that kept falling over her little shoulders.

Callen took in a deep breath and let it out trying to keep his frustrations under control. "Alright, we'll get a smaller size."

But the smaller size didn't fit either, it was too snug. The next dress was itchy. The one after that was too long, and the one after that was too short.

Out of pink dresses they waved goodbye to Nancy and walked out of the shop.

"I'm hungry, can we get frency fries?"

"Yeah, sure," he responded taking her hand again as they made their way along the street. He opened the door to the first little diner he found and did a quick scan of it's patrons. There was an elderly couple, a lone man drinking coffee and reading the news paper, a few waitresses and a young couple snuggling in the far booth. He pulled out a seat for Zoe at the most strategically located table.

"Thanks," she said climbing up.

He took the seat across from her. The waiter, Doug by his name tag came over. He studied the two for a second, Callen and Zoe were quite obviously not related in the genetic sense. "Can I get your drinks to start?"

Zoe looked at the man and then to her Uncle G. She bit her bottom lip. "Can I get soda?"

Callen shrugged. No one had told him she _couldn't_ have soda. "Sure."

"Sweet!" she was talking more and more like her big brother everyday and it made Callen grin. "Pepsi!"

Callen looked at her. "Please."

"Pepsi, _please_," she corrected.

"Coffee," Callen ordered. He had a feeling he was going to need it. "Two orders of fries too please."

"Coming right up," Doug said leaving them.

"Uncle G," Zoe said gaining his attention as Doug returned with the drinks. "Thank you," she said to the man and then looked to her uncle who was grinning as he put one of the pouches of sugar into his drink. He took a sip just as Zoe asked. "Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Callen choked on his coffee and Doug seemed to be trying not to laugh once he realized Callen wasn't going to need assistance. He left them and Callen stared at his goddaughter. "Who says I don't have a girlfriend?"

"So you do have a girlfriend," Zoe inquired.

"You've picked this up from your Grandma, haven't you?" Callen said with a groan. Ellie was always trying to find him a 'nice girl.' Zoe shrugged her shoulders. "Were you painting today," he pointed to the flecks of blue on her shirt.

"Yep!" Zoe responded. "I painted the ocean. We're learning about fish and their ha-bit-ats. Next week we get to go Sea World!"

"Very cool," Callen said with a smile as their fries came. Zoe got quiet as she ate and they quickly finished their meals, Callen finished off his coffee and Zoe her Pepsi. "Ready to go, Small Fry?"

She sent him a cool look, that was just like her mothers. When she got older, the look would be deadly and have the ability to stop a man in his tracks. "I'm not small. I'm a big fry."

Callen laughed as he put a couple of bills on the table to take care of the bill and tip. "Come on, Big Fry, lets find you a dress."

::

Another two shops down they were standing in front of the last shop on the list. "This is it, Kid. Last shop."

"What if we don't find the dress?" Zoe asked shooting him a fear filled look. He was okay with the fact that not finding a dress could be the end of her little world. It showed just how innocent and sheltered she was.

He crouched down in front of her. "We will find the dress," he insisted. He did not go through the last four hours dress shopping with a little girl to go home empty handed. He was now looking at this as a mission, and it had to be completed. He opened the door and they walked in.

"How about this?" He asked picking up the first pink dress he saw. She gave him the _'are you stupid' _look, which she had down pat. "I'll take that as a no," he said putting it back.

They walked around looking, and he nearly bumped into her when she stopped suddenly and gasped. "That one," she pointed.

Oh, it was pink alright. Pink. Pink. Pink. The top was a medium pink and appeared to be satin, the belt around the centre was pink flowers that when Callen reached out and touched it, he couldn't name the material, the bottom was a light pink, hundreds of layers of tulle.

"Can I help you?" The sales clerk, an elderly woman asked.

"I suppose you want to try it on?" Callen looked as if he'd rather run across six lanes of traffic.

"Yeah," Zoe replied dreamily.

The clerk, Rita by her name tag smiled. "What's the occasion?" she asked getting a long curved metal pole to get the dress down from the top rack.

"My Auntie May is getting married. I'm the flower girl. It's an important job. Daddy says I have to be on my best behaviour."

"And this is your Daddy?" Rita was obviously trying to get a grasp on who Callen was to the child.

"He's my Uncle," Zoe corrected. "Daddy's away on business," she said rather sadly a slight pout finding her lips. She looked back at the dress, and the sadness was forgotten. "It's so pretty."

"A pretty dress," Rita said. "For a pretty girl."

Zoe beamed and Callen took the dress with them into the change room.

Buttons. Damn them to hell.

"Hurry up, Uncle G!" Zoe complained. "I want to see what it looks like.

"Be patient, Zoe," he said. "There are like fifty buttons back here, it's going to take a minute." Five would be more accurate before he fixed the tulle that had ruffled and adjusted the belt. "Alright, good to go." She turned to face him with a smile and a hand up, he hit his against hers and opened the door.

"Oh wow," Rita said. "You look like a little princess!"

Zoe stepped in front of the mirror and swayed side to side a large grin on her face. "This one Uncle G! This one is perfect!"

Callen let out a sigh. Finally. Done. He'd never sign on for this kind of hell again.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Thank you Uncle G!"

He was rather surprised, so he gave a shrug. "Lets get you back into your normal clothes."

"But Uncle G, we still need to find shoes!"

His head fell back in frustration. That was it. Sam owed him imported beer, of the very expensive variety. He pulled himself back upright and steeled his spine. "Alright. Shoes. And then ice cream?" he asked her with a teasing smile. "I could really use some ice cream."

"Shoes," Zoe said seriously eyeing him. "And then we'll talk."

::

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	20. Ruth

Callen was exhausted, he really thought he could sleep for days... if only the sun wasn't beaming through the bay window in the Hanna's living room right onto the couch where he'd practically fallen. Busy five nights as 'Mr Carl' in a row was enough to give him the headache from hell, or perhaps it was a hangover, he couldn't be to certain. All he knew was that he was tired, and Sam had muscled him from the couch at the office since it _was_ the middle of the day. Callen could have gone home, but after the beating his body had taken in a fist fight, Sam didn't really want his partner sleeping on the floor. '_You got to take better care of yourself, G_,' he could hear the worry in Sam's voice, so he'd just come along. The couch at the Hanna residence rivalled the comfortableness of even the OSP couch.

"Ruuuuuth?" Zoe poked her head in.

Then again, neither his house or OSP had small children in the house.

"Uncle G, have you seen Ruth?"

"Ruth?" Callen asked confused as he looked at his goddaughter.

"Yeah, Ruth, have you seen her."

"I didn't even know you had a friend over," Callen replied.

"Yeah, well Ruth is like this tall," Zoe raised her hand to about an inch over her own height. "She's blonde, she has those light up shoes, she's wearing a white shirt and a green tutu."

"Shouldn't be hard to miss," Callen noted.

Zoe shrugged. "We're playing hide-and-go-seek," she walked over and studied her uncle and godfather. "Can you help me find Ruth?"

Callen sighed, he'd rather sleep... but since then he'd hear her opening every door and cabinet and then slamming them, along with her calling out Ruth's name every few seconds he figured it was in his best interest to just help her look. How hard could it be to find a girl in a green tutu after all?

Sam had gone back to work, he still having to work his part of the case. Eloise Hanna, Sam's mother sat at the table since she was watching over Zoe until Michelle got off work. She looked bemused. "I thought you were going to take a nap," she said setting down the newspaper she'd been reading.

"We're finding Ruth," Zoe said with a sharp nod. "Where could she be," Zoe looked around the kitchen. "Have you seen her Grandma?"

"No, I haven't," Eloise responded seeming to be trying to suppress a smile, her eyes twinkling with laughter.

"I checked my bedroom, and Zack's bedroom, and Mom and Dad's bedroom, and the bathroom. We should check the basement now."

"Lead on," Callen said rubbing one of his tired eyes as he followed her out of the kitchen, through the laundry room and down the stairs.

For a basement, it was pretty well lit, the walls were a light beige. There was a couple of couches, a few tables, a television mounted to the wall. There was a dark oak bar in the corner, a poker table and a billiards table.

Callen opened the closet and Zoe peered in under the coats. "Nope, no Ruth," she said.

"How about under the pool table," Callen suggested.

Zoe crouched down and looked under. "No, she isn't there either."

Callen scratched the back of his head. "I don't know, Kiddo... behind the bar?"

Zoe looked and squealed with delight. "Yep, we found her Uncle G!" She skipped over and gave him a hug. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, no problem." He stared at the bar, but no little girl followed. "Ruth?"

Zoe laughed looking up at her uncle. "She's right her," Zoe pointed beside her.

No one.

Callen stared at Zoe confused.

"You finally found Ruth," Eloise said with a laugh by the stairs. "Come on, I'll make you both a sandwich."

Zoe smiled and turned to the blank space. "Come on, I'll race you!" And then she took off in a run.

"Um..." Callen pointed to where Zoe had been and then looked over at Eloise. "What just happened?"

Eloise laughed. "Ruth is Zoe's imaginary friend," she looped an arm around Callen's and started leading him toward the stairs. "Kind of like all those girlfriends I hear about, and never see."

It was Callen's turn to laugh. "Don't say it."

"I just want you to find a nice girl," Eloise said despite him telling her not to.

"One day, Ellie," he promised with a shake of his head.


	21. Needles

"You have got to be kidding me," Callen said shaking his head. "No. No way, I'm not doing it." He put up his hand to keep Sam from saying anything. "No, the answer is no, no, no. There is absolutely nothing you can say to change my mind."

"G, you're being completely unreasonable," Sam said unable to keep a slight smile off of his face as he looked across the bullpen to where Callen was sitting, arms folded over his chest like a moody child after a temper tantrum, which in Sam's opinion, wasn't far from the truth. "It's not like _you_ have to get the needle."

"I'm not taking Zachary to the doctor, no, I'm not doing it," Callen shook his head in a stubborn manner.

Sam rolled his eyes and took in a deep breath in attempt to calm himself. "G," he said the single syllable in a warning tone. "You do realize you're acting like a five year old. You just have to take him to the doctors office, please."

"Why can't I just do your part in the mission and you take break to take Zack," Callen practically whined.

If it weren't so frustrating for Sam, he would have found it funny. "Because in case you have forgotten, you're white. Second of all, you don't speak Arabic."

"Can so," Callen said moodily.

"What I've taught you hardly counts as fluent," Sam said with a shake of his head. "And you're still Caucasian."

"It's the doctors office, Sam," Callen replied moodily. "It's _needles_. I hate needles."

"But you don't have to get one, Zachary does."

"And what kind of uncle am I if I take him?" Callen argued. "Uncles are suppose to be awesome, right? I get to be the cool uncle G who spoils them with chocolate and then leaves to let you deal with their hyperactive behaviours."

"What kind of uncle are you if you don't take him?" Sam reasoned narrowing his eyes knowing he'd dealt the final blow to Callen's argument. Above all else, Sam knew Callen cared for Zachary and Zoe.

Callen sighed heavily as if the weight of the world was just placed upon his shoulders. "Fine," he grumbled moodily.

::

Callen picked up Zachary from his school during his lunch hour. "Hey Zack," Callen put on a smile, figuring his foul mood would only make the nervous looking Zachary more scared.

"Hey Uncle G," Zachary responded with out his usual enthusiasm, a frown on his face.

They both got into the car and Callen waited for Zachary to put on his seat belt in the back. "How's school?" Callen asked as he pulled out of the parking space.

"Good," Zachary said, but didn't elaborate on studies or with stories like he usually did.

Callen's eyes stayed on the road, but occasionally flicked to the rearview mirror. Zachary's dark eyes staring out the window, his lips pressed into a tight worried line, his arms crossed over his chest defensively. Callen's eyes returned to the road. "How is your soccer team doing?" Callen asked knowing the boy played on an after school team despite rarely having time to go and watch due to work. He also knew that the team was going to the semi-finals on the weekend, a proud Sam had been more than happy to show Callen pictures of Zachary's game winning goal.

"Good," Zachary replied quickly, his lips returning to their tightly pressed positions.

"Cat got your tongue?" Callen asked reaching back and gently tapping the boy's knee. Zachary finally looked over at Callen for a second, he shrugged and then looked back out the window. Callen sighed and put his hands back at ten and two.

The doctors office wasn't far from the school, and traffic had been light. The parking lot was pretty full and he parked near the back at the first available space. Zachary got out of the car and stared at the building with apprehension. He then looked over at Callen with fear filled eyes. "Do I have to?" Zachary asked. "I feel fine! I'm not sick, why do I have to get a needle?"

"So you don't get sick," Callen replied. "The shots help... power up your immune system," he tried to explain it in a way the boy would understand and accept. He really didn't want to have to drag Zachary in there kicking and screaming.

"Dad said you hate needles," Zachary replied his dark eyes glaring into Callen's blue ones. "If you hate needles, I'm going to really hate them. You're bigger and older and stronger."

Callen sighed and mentally cursed Sam, who when seen in person, would get an earful. "Yeah, I do, but my size or age has nothing to do with it, it doesn't make getting a needle better or worse," Callen replied crouching down to Zachary's height. "They're a necessary evil... like broccoli."

That got Zachary to smile just a little, the smile was fleeting though and had become a frown. "Will it hurt?"

Callen knew that the boy had, had needles before but was likely too young to have a good memory of them. He could lie... "Yeah," Callen responded after some internal deliberation. "It'll hurt a little bit, like when Zoe pinches you when she's mad."

"I hate when she does that," Zachary said with an air of anger.

"Look, it's not that bad, you go in, you get the needle and I'll take you out for pizza and ice cream. Sound like a deal?" Callen held out his fist and Zachary bumped his own against it. "Come on kiddo," Callen said standing back at full height. "Lets get this done and over with."

They walked for a bit before Zachary spoke up again. "Uncle G?"

"Yeah?"

"If they don't hurt to bad... then why do you hate them so much. Dad says you're a pansy when it comes to getting needles. What's a pansy?"

Callen frowned. Oh yes, Sam Hanna would be getting an ear full. For the sake of the conversation with his godson, he ignored the pansy question. How to explain his hatred for needles was difficult. He hadn't even told Sam where his deep seeded fear stemmed from. Sam just jibed him for it every chance he got and Callen was grateful for the normalness of the banter in relation to the subject that bothered him deeply. "I got real sick as a kid," Callen said opening the door to the clinic. "I had to get a bunch of them."

Zachary was quiet for a minute. "And the needles made you better?" He took Callen's hand as they moved through the busy lobby.

"Yeah," Callen replied in a nearly begrudging manner as they walked down the hall to Zachary's doctor. "I got better," Callen said in a quiet voice as he opened the door.

Callen told the receptionist they were here for Zachary's appointment and she smiled. "Room three please, the doctor will be with you shortly."

Callen lead Zachary down the hall and lifted him to sit him on the bed with the crinkly paper. Zachary took a bit of glee in crunching it in his hands. Callen took a seat in the chair and waited. "Uncle G," Zachary looked over at him, his brown eyes now filled with fresh worries. "Am I sick? Is that why I have to get needles. I feel fine, really!"

"I believe you, Zack," Callen replied resting his elbows on his knees as he studied the worried look on Zachary's face. "And you're not sick."

"But you got sick," Zachary muttered. "I had a cold a little while ago. Is that why?"

Callen's head drooped a bit. "No Zack," Callen reassured lifting his head back up. "You don't have to get a needle because you had a cold. Everyone gets colds now and then."

"We learned about germs in school," Zachary said, his worries not pacified. "You can't see them, but they're everywhere, and some germs are really, really bad. Did I catch a bad germ?"

Callen tried not to show his exasperation. "No Zachary. Your shot is so you don't get sick, my shots were because I already was."

"So... I get one shot so I don't have to get lots of shots?"

"Yeah," _close enough_, he thought.

Zachary looked about ready to ask more questions, but the doctor walked in. "Hello, Zachary."

"Hi," Zachary replied in a quiet voice.

"Time for a needle I see," the doctor said looking at his sheets. "Don't worry, it's just a little prick and it'll be done before you know it." Callen hovered watching the doctor's moves, the man filled the syringe, cleaned the area of Zachary's arm and then poked it in, pressed the end and covered it with a cotton ball and a band aid. "Not so bad, was it?"

Zachary smiled at the sight of the Spider-Man bandaid. "No, I guess not."

"Could you two wait here a moment," the doctor requested with smile and then left the room.

Callen immediately got suspicious and moved closer to Zachary. The door opened and Callen was just about ready to go on the offensive when he seen Doctor Zhu come in with a smile upon his face. Dr Zhu's hair was greying, his green eyes were piercing as he stared at Callen. "Mr Callen, time for your annual inoculations!" The good doctor was an old and trusted friend of Hetty's, a doctor who spent years in combat hospitals but had finally decided to open a practice state-side. When Hetty had an injured agent, Dr Zhu was the man she trusted with their medical records, and with their lives.

Callen bit the curse off the end of his tongue since Zachary was in the room. "Hetty?"

Dr Zhu smiled. "I keep making appointments for you, you keep cancelling them."

"So she and Sam set me up," Callen said.

Dr Zhu shrugged, but it was obvious he found the situation amusing. "Take a seat, Mr Callen. It'll only take a second."

"It's not that bad Uncle G," Zachary said his eyes now calm, a little smile on his face. "We'll have matching band aids."

Callen sat down next to Zachary and glared at the wall as Dr Zhu rubbed alcohol on his arm and then filled up a syringe. "Should I count to three?" Dr Zhu was needling him. Callen glared. "Fine," Dr Zhu broke skin and Callen let out a yelp.

"Don't be such a pansy," Zachary said with a smile, Callen glared

::

"Pansy," Callen said when Sam came back into the office not looking any worse for wear.

"Excuse me?"

Callen held up the dictionary, Spider-Man bandaid still on the crook of his arm. "Pansy, noun. Definition one; a plant of the viola family, with flowers in rich colours. Definition two; informal, derogatory an effeminate or homosexual man." Callen at this point turned the book around and pointed at the picture of the flower. "So which were you referring too when you told your son I'm a pansy when it comes to needles?" Callen raised an eyebrow that told Sam that the question was rhetorical and that he was pissed.

"G," Sam started but was quickly cut off.

"Don't Sam," Callen said shutting the dictionary, his real anger didn't come from the pansy comment, they threw worse barbs at each other on a day to day basis. No, his anger came from being set up. "You're my partner and you and Hetty schemed against me."

"Perhaps you should have gone to the past eight appointments you've had booked," Sam argued dropping his go bag and leaning back against his desk. "If we had to fly somewhere I'd have had to gone with Kensi or Deeks because you wouldn't have had cleared your medical."

Callen crossed his arms over his chest. "I hate being played."

"Which do you hate worse?" Sam asked. "Being played, or needles?"

"Needles," Callen reluctantly answered.

"And that's why you got played," Sam responded. "You still going to be pissed off at me tomorrow?"

Callen shrugged picking his go bag up off the floor. "Maybe," Callen responded.

"But you'll get over it?"

"Yep," Callen said with a nod. "By the way, I sent Zachary home with a bag filled with chocolate for him and Zoe to share... good luck with that."

Sam shook his head. "G'night G."

"Night, Sam."

::

**Since this kind of follows in the same realm as 'Callen's series' (yes, I'm totally aware that I **_**butchered**_** the time line, but I still use the Hanna family in both... so it counts... sort of) details of Callen's illness and his reasons behind hating needles was told in chapter 17 of Blood and Bone.**

**Thanks for reading :)**


	22. It's The Great Pumpkin, G Callen!

**For the ever supportive SilverSentenial21 who didn't even have to poke me this time ;)**_** Thank you :)**_

::

The work day hadn't been overly interesting, surveillance for another team that had gone no where. Callen grabbed his bag, his partner doing the same and they said good night to Kensi and Deeks momentarily breaking up their argument over the best pizza joint in LA. Since Callen had car-pooled with Sam in the morning he also needed a ride home.

"Big plans for the weekend, G?" Sam asked as they walked down the hall.

Callen shrugged. "Got a new book of sudoku puzzles."

Sam groaned and pushed open the door. "You need to get out more."

"So I hear," Callen muttered following Sam out and walking around the nose of the Challenger.

"I got the kids this weekend, we're carving pumpkins for Halloween," Sam said. "Could use a hand."

Callen shrugged. "Sure," he replied since he didn't have anything better to do, besides it had been a while since he'd seen the kids.

::

Callen raised his hand to knock at the door, but it seemed that Zoe had been watching the window for him because the door pulled back before he could hit it. "Hi Uncle G!" She said with a great deal of enthusiasm as she tackled his leg.

He lifted her up and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Hey Zoe," he replied. "Gosh you're getting big," he said setting her back down.

She giggled. "We're going to get pumpkins," she danced around in a little circle in her purple corduroys and an old grey t-shirt. Zoe danced a bit from side to side, her tight curly hair waving with the motion as it had started to grow out.

"Where's Zack?"

"He spilt juice on his shirt, he had to go change," Zoe replied.

"I thought I heard you," Sam said coming in. "Glad you could make it, G."

"Hey Uncle G," Zachary said. He was dressed in a shirt with a soccer logo and a pair of old jeans. "Did Zoe tell you we're going to the pumpkin patch?"

Callen raised an eyebrow. "A patch... don't you just go to the supermarket?"

Zoe laughed, and Zachary shook his head. "No way, that's lame," he said.

::

The pumpkin patch was a half hour drive from the little home Sam was renting, the kids were buckled up in the back seat both quieted by handheld games with the occasional calling of _'are we there yet' _from one of them.

After twenty minutes, Zoe apparently gave up on her game because every minute after that was her asking, "Are we there yet?"

"We'll be there when we get there," Sam responded.

"Dad, are we there yet?" Zoe asked in exasperation a minute later.

"I'll turn this car around!"

Callen chuckled quietly. "Look Zoe," he pointed out the window. "There are the pumpkin patches."

She clapped and bounced a bit in her seat. "Yay! We're here! Zachary! We're here!"

::

The sun was hot, and the old clothing on the kids made senses with the way they would get on their hands and knees to inspect nearly every pumpkin. "This is going to be an all day thing, isn't it?" Callen asked.

"Yep," Sam replied shaking his head.

Zoe tilted a little pumpkin. "EW!," she then set it back down. "Worm!" she jumped up and tackled into her father's leg. "There was a yucky worm under the pumpkin Dad!"

"Then don't look under the pumpkin's Zoe," Sam responded pushing some of her hair from her face. Zoe pouted a bit but returned to her search this time not touching the pumpkins, just in case.

"Zooooeee," Zachary called with a mischievous smile and held up a worm before her. She let out a scream and ran to Callen who was closest, grabbed his leg and swung around behind him peeking out to see where her brother was.

"Zack," Sam said in a warning tone. "Put it back."

"I was just teasing," Zachary complained, but complied and put the worm back on the ground.

"Butt head," Zoe muttered glaring at her brother.

"Hey," Sam said pointing at her. "No name-calling."

She sighed dramatically. "But he is."

"Zoe," Sam warned.

She pouted but this time kept quiet. "Hey, how about this one?" Callen asked poking his toe to a pumpkin, it seemed round enough, a medium height and width.

Zoe walked around it inspecting it with a critical eye. "Not orange enough," she decided. Callen looked to Sam who shrugged. As it turned out, some would be too orange. Others would be too round, others to oval in shape.

"A pumpkin is a pumpkin," Callen said as they went down yet another row.

"They're kids G, it's not just a pumpkin to them," Sam replied.

"We'll no one is going to make it into a carriage," the last time he'd been over he'd been stuck watching Cinderella with Zoe.

Sam smirked. "Let them have their fun... Grumpy."

Callen glared. "Really, we're breaking out the Seven Dwarf jokes? I'm not that short!"

"Right... just vertically challenged."

"I should have stayed in my nice air conditioned house and done those puzzles," he muttered.

"This one!" Zoe exclaimed pointing at quite possibly the largest pumpkin in the patch. "It's perfect!"

Callen looked up at Sam. "You're carrying it."

::

Luckily, not long after Zoe had found hers, Zachary had found one he'd found suitable. While Zoe's was large and round, his was tall and oval in shape. The drive back had been considerably quieter and no one asked the dreaded 'are we there yet' question.

The pumpkins were washed with the hose outside to get all of the dirt off, dried off with towels that immediately made their way into the washing machine.

Sam lugged in Zoe's ridiculously sized pumpkin and Callen took in Zachary's that while nearly as tall as his sisters wasn't nearly as wide. News papers were laid out over the floor and pumpkins were placed over them. The kids got to work tracing shapes creating faces on their pumpkins. Zachary's had downwards pointed triangle eyes, and many jagged teeth going for a scary edge. Zoe's had big rounded eyes, a big grin with only a few teeth making hers more silly.

Callen sat down, knife in hand, with Zoe since her's looked easier to carve than the many saw like teeth Zachary had given his. Sam sat down with his knife and looked at the many teeth and shot Callen a look to which Callen smiled in return. Callen went to start carving a hole, angling the knife inward around the top around the thick stem. Finished he lifted it and strings of pumpkin guts and a few seeds clung.

"Ewww!" Zoe shrieked loudly getting up and stomping around shaking her hands out as if she might have gotten some on her. She was smiling though. "Gross!" She finally said making a bit of a face.

"Come on you," Callen said. "Help me clean it out!"

"You first, it looks yucky," Zoe said making faces as he reached in and took out the first scoop of orange, yellowish goo and seeds. She made more disgusted faces as he dropped some, but plenty clung to his fingers which he wiggled at her making her squeal and run away a few steps. "That's gross," she said with a laugh taking a few tentative steps closer.

Sam and Zachary were gutting the other pumpkin, Zachary unfazed by the gooey substance, even enjoying they way it squished in his fingers. He flicked some at his father, who promptly flicked some back. Had Callen been paying more attention, he might have seen it coming.

Sam nudged Zachary and picked up some guts and nodded his head in Callen's way, he was trying to coax Zoe back over to help... and then was hit with two gobs of pumpkin guts, one hit his shirt some of it sticking while some trailed down and fell off. The other hit him by his temple and had him quickly wiping the foreign substance off. He glared over at Zachary and Sam who were both smiling.

Callen reached into the pumpkin, Zachary quickly got to his feet and ran over to Zoe using her as a shield, her giggling and wiggling trying to get away. Callen could at least retailiate against Sam, so he threw some of the pumpkin guts in his partner's direction while getting to his feet and running to use both kids as sheilds.

"Mature, G," Sam called with a laugh wiping the orange goo off his shirt and arm.

"You started it," Callen replied.

"I'm ending it," Zoe said sternly as she'd heard both of her parents say on many occasions.

"Yeah, you going to help me now?" Callen asked her.

"Uh-huh," Zoe responded with a quick nod of her head. "We got to get him clean so we can carve him and put him outside!"

With a truce on the pumpkin guts everyone went back to work cleaning out the pumpkins. Zoe making faces each time she stuck her arm in, the pumpkin so big that she could hardly reach the bottom.

Cleaned out, the kids hovered around as Sam and Callen cut along the lines that Zachary and Zoe had drawn out.

"There are like eighty teeth," Sam complained taking a break, clenching and unclenching his fist.

Callen chuckled, glad that he'd chosen Zoe's easier to cut around design. He pulled out the chunk of pumpkin exposing the mouth shape with the goofy two toothed grin. He turned with the chunk held to his face causing Zoe to giggle. "Silly, Uncle G," she said with a yawn.

Eventually both pumpkins were cut and taken to the porch. Candles were put inside and lit for the children's enjoyment putting smiles on their faces. "Alright," Sam said after a few minutes of the children admiring their Jack-O-Lanterns. "Bath time, you're both filthy." Zachary grinned and wiggled his still slimy fingers.

"Bath time indeed," Callen looked down at his dirty shirt, earth from carrying Zachary's pumpkin patches of goo dried and clung to the fabric a few seeds stuck to it. His arm was itchy from the drying pumpkin substance. "Time to hit the road."

"Bye Uncle G," Zoe hugged him first getting more goo on his shirt. "Thanks for cutting out my Jack-a-lantern."

Zachary hugged him when Zoe let go. "See you later Zack."

"Bye Uncle G," Zachary replied, he pulled back and laughed. "You're a mess."

"Yeah, well... you're a mess," Callen replied. Zachary shook his head at the lame comeback and even added in a roll of his dark brown eyes. "See you Monday, Sam."

"Bye G," he said with a bit of a wave before trying to herd his children. "Come on you two. Baths."

Callen looked back to see the family go inside, the pumpkins still grinning on the porch, with a smile on his face, he got into his car and headed home.

::

**Thanks for reading :)**


	23. Tricks and Treats

"Please," Sam begged as he and his partner sat in the front of the Challenger waiting on their suspect.

Callen popped the tootsie pop into his mouth, cherry, he debated, enjoyed watching his partner squirm. Finally Callen removed the tootsie pop from his mouth and responded. "Yeah, sure, it's just walking around the neighbourhood, how hard could it be?"

Sam's tension dissipated. "You have no idea G. That's why I need you there, it was hard enough keeping an eye on the kids when it was both Michelle and I."

"I thought she'd want to do the entire Halloween thing as a family," Callen said spinning the stick between his fingers. "I know she loves helping the kids dress up."

"Her grandmother is sick," Sam responded. "She's spending a lot of time there."

Callen nodded in acknowledgement and filled away the information. "I'll help you keep an eye on them," he said before popping the candy back into his mouth.

Sam had been about to continue the conversation but their suspect finally left and both men quickly buckled their seatbelts and sat a little straighter. "Thank God, my ass was falling asleep," Callen complained quickly grabbing the numerous origami animals Sam had made with his wrappers. Their conversation would have to wait, it was game time.

::

Standing before a mirror Callen couldn't quite believe what he'd been talked into. When he had agreed to help Sam keep an eye on the kids during some trick or treating, he hadn't expected the expectation of having to dress up himself.

"Lets see it," Kensi called from the other side of the curtain.

"This is ridiculous," Callen called back. "Why does Hetty even have Halloween costumes here?"

"There was a case," Hetty said. "A few agents had to infiltrate a Halloween party."

"Isn't there anything else," Callen asked.

"Well..." Hetty said. "The other two agents on that undercover were women, but if you'd prefer to go as Marilyn Monroe or a... very sexy secretary those are your choices. We had to work with what we had at the time."

Callen finally pushed back the curtain stepping out in the very fairy tailed version of Prince Charming. "This is my only option."

"The world needs more Prince Charmings," Kensi whistled appreciatively.

Callen sighed. "At least it isn't spandex," he muttered under his breath trying to make the best of it.

"It's Halloween Callen," Kensi said with a smile on her face. "It's okay to dress up and have a good time."

He checked his watch. "I've got to go," he muttered.

"So what is this for," Kensi pried. "Big party? Meeting with a woman?"

Callen shot her a dirty look. "I'll see you Monday, thanks Hetty!"

Kensi looked to Hetty. "Where do you think he's going?"

Hetty just smiled knowingly and left the junior agent to her speculations.

::

Callen met Sam, Zoe and Zachary at a park. He smiled getting out of the car. Zoe was in a red dress with big black spots, a big red tutu, she wore antennae on her head. She waved at him. "Hi Uncle G!" She yelled at him.

He waved back and walked through the sand pit to where Sam was sitting dressed as a pirate. "Really? A pirate?"

"This coming from a guy with poofy sleeves," Sam rebutted with a laugh gesturing to Callen's shirt.

Callen didn't have the chance to respond since Zachary had come over in his Spiderman costume. "Can we start trick and treating now?"

"Did you even say hello to your-"

"Hi Uncle G," Zachary reminded quickly before turning back to his father. "Can we go? Can we? Can we?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sam said shaking his head. He passed on pillow case to Zoe and another to Zachary. "Come on, lets get started."

They stuck to the residential area, and the later it got the more children were out on the streets, he finally understood why Sam wanted the extra pair of eyes. It was chaos! "My God," he muttered under his breath as a vampire along with a very tiny Jack Sparrow ran past him. "This is madness."

"You have no- ZOE!" Sam pointed to the ground beside him and Zoe came back and stood there.

"I want to go to that house!" She complained as she pointed across the road.

"You don't cross the street on your own Zoe, it's dangerous," Sam said with a worried sigh before taking her hand.

Callen was having a harder time keeping an eye on Zachary. "How many Spiderman's could there be?"

"I've counted at least eight," Sam muttered as they walked up to one of the houses. Sam and Callen waited halfway down the walkway as the children ventured to the door and knocked.

A werewolf opened the door. Zachary looked up in awe, but Zoe screamed and ran away back to her father tackling into his leg.

"It's just a costume Zoe," Callen said sounding a little perplexed at her fear.

"It's a monster!" She argued hiding behind her father, peeking out to watch as the werewolf put candy into Zachary's sack and then hand him a second candy.

Zachary walked back. "That was so cool," he said before handing his sister the second candy he'd been handed. "He felt bad for scaring you," he explained.

"Monster candy," Zoe pushed the candy and Zachary shrugged putting it into his own bag.

Luckily, it appeared that most others who opened the doors weren't dressed up, or were dressed up as doctors, or princesses, things that Zoe wasn't scared of.

Halfway down the block Sam ended up carrying Zoe's bag, it having gotten heavy from those houses that gave away cans of pop instead of, or with candy. Zoe's energy seemed to be waning and her little steps were shorter as they crossed the road to hit the other side.

"I'm tired," she complained. Taking pity on his niece Callen picked her up around the waist from behind. "Up?" He lifted her over his head and she sat on his shoulders, her hands holding onto his fingers for balance. "Thanks Uncle G," she said sleepily.

"No problem, kid."

Zachary had gone to a few houses on his own. As they walked down the sidewalk, Zoe had fallen to sleep, her head resting on top of Callen's and he walked a little slower trying not to jostle her.

"Last house," Sam told Zachary.

"But Dad!" Zachary whined.

Sam responded with a stern look. "Last house."

"Fine," Zachary said his shoulder slumping as he walked walking up the pathway to the next house alone as Callen and Sam waited.

"I think these belong to your ladybug," a woman's voice caught their attention and both agents turned. A young woman in a blonde wig, and princess styled dress stood before them with black and red antennae, her son dressed up as the Green Lantern let go of her hand and ran off to the house for more candy.

Callen reached up to Zoe's head looking for the antennae but encountered only her curly mass of hair, unintentionally waking her up.

Sam smiled as she handed it over to him. "Thank you."

"No problem," the woman responded.

"You're the swan princess!" Zoe exclaimed with a smile.

The woman smiled. "And you're the cutest ladybug I've ever seen."

Zoe beamed. "Are you trick or treating?"

She shook her head. "My son is."

"Why can't bigger people trick or treat?" Zoe asked.

"We save it for the little ones to enjoy," the woman responded.

Zoe smiled sleepily. "You're nice."

"Thank you," the woman replied.

"My Uncle G is Prince Charming, and you're a princess," Zoe said insinuating.

Sam burst out laughing. "I'm really sorry," he said to her, but she obviously found it to be amusing as well. "My daughter has been listening to my mother too much."

"It's fine," she said but she held up her left hand. "Sorry, I've already found my Prince Charming."

Zoe sighed dramatically. "We need to find you another princess Uncle G!"


	24. Fort

"Thanks for doing this G," Sam said clasping a hand on the other man's shoulder.

"No problem," he replied with a casual shrug. Sam was going to meet up with a few men from his former SEALS team, Callen would watch the kids. "Where are th-"

"UNCLE G!" Zoe's head was around the corner, her curls wild and glistening from her bath. "Look, look." she twirled around in her new Parker Pony nightgown.

"Very nice," he replied holding a thumbs up. She danced around in a circle happily.

"I got to get going," Sam said picking up his daughter. "Be good for your Uncle G."

"I will," she promised kissing his cheek. "Love you Daddy!"

"Love you too," he replied setting her back down on her feet. "Zack! I'm heading out."

"Bye Dad!" He shouted in return.

Callen followed Zoe in the direction of Zachary's voice. "Huh." He said in the kitchen. Zachary was moving around the chairs.

"Hey Uncle G," Zachary greeted. "I'm making a fort."

"I want to help!" Zoe announced excitedly.

"I need blankets," Zachary told her and she skipped off.

"Uncle G?"

"Yeah?" Callen replied dropping his go bag to the floor.

"Can we have popcorn?" Zachary asked his big brown eyes pleading.

"Yeah, sure," Callen responded and started going through the kitchen trying to find the bags.

Zoe returned dragging blankets in her wake, together with her brother, they started to toss them over the chair backs, and over the kitchen table covering all the sides. Callen found the popcorn, took off the plastic and threw the paper bag into the microwave and set the timer.

"Uncle G?" Zachary said to get the man's attention. "Can you help with this bit? I can't reach."

Callen nodded and took the blanket, and threw it over the backs of the chairs and it draped over the others, completely covering their little fort. "We need pillows!" Zoe said excitedly and ran to get more supplies.

By the time the popcorn stopped popping, the kids had the inside of the fort practically covered with pillows, and a stack of books inside to pass the time. "Come on," Zoe said to him. "Get in!" She held the blanket by the table and he shook his head with a smile on his face, it was hard to believe how easy it was for these kids to convince him to do something. He got down to his knees and with the popcorn crawled into the larger section.

Zachary was already inside, siting in the smaller part where the chairs were all around. Zoe crawled in after Callen with a three pack of juice boxes. They all sat inside munching on popcorn. Callen fought with the juice box straw wrapper and muttered in Russian out of sheer frustration. Eventually he got it and was able to wash down the popcorn.

Zachary threw a piece up in the air and caught it in his mouth. Zoe upon seeing this tried to do the same, instead the popcorn got stuck in her hair. Callen and Zachary both laughed, and Callen took the bit from her hair and set it to the side.

"Uncle G?" Zoe looked up at him. "Can we sleep in the fort?" she asked her eyes lit up with excitement.

Sam hadn't said they couldn't...

"Yeah, sure."

The night passed with Callen reading stories, Zachary telling jokes and Zoe laughing.

::

Sam came in quietly, not wanting to wake the children. He kicked off his shoes, hung up his keys and jacket and walked through the house. The kitchen lights were on and the table and chairs were covered in all kinds of blankets. He checked the living room for his partner, but he wasn't there. Nor were his children in their bedrooms. Returning to the kitchen with a grin he crouched down and lifted one of the blankets.

Inside, Callen was sleeping on his side a Spider-Man comic open and down on his chest. Zoe was sleeping in the other direction her legs and feet disappearing into the chair portion of the fort, she was using Callen's chest as a pillow. Zachary was sleeping on his side facing Callen as if they'd both fallen to sleep reading the book.

With a smile, Sam decided to leave them for the night and let the blanket fall back down. He clicked off the kitchen lights and headed to bed himself.

::

**This will be the last Uncle Callen. They're basically at the age I start writing them in my 'Callen's series' and I've decided to just put the cute moments in there instead of continuing to harbor them all for this. Thank you to everyone who has read and taken the time to review this story, I really appreciate it. I've had a lot of fun writing these, and hope you've enjoyed reading them :) Much Love and Light~Rush**


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